Italy this year chose Mahmood & Blanco as its 2022 representatives.

Mahmood’s real name is Alessandro Mahmoud and he was born on September 12, 1992 in Milan, Italy. His mother is of Italian descent and his father of Egyptian descent.

In 2012 he auditioned for the X-Factor. He became part of the boys’ category and eliminated to the judges’ houses. He returned to the contest as a wildcard, but only to eliminated again in the third episode. After his X-Factor participation, he attended a music school and started writing his own songs. One year after he released his first single.

In 2018, he released his first extended play. On the November of the same year, former Eurovision participant, Marco Mengoni released his fifth album. The album contained four songs co-written by Mahmood. The same year, Mahmood, also won the second night of Sanremo Giovani and earned a spot in the 2019 edition of Sanremo, where he won.

His victory in Sanremo 2019, gave him the right to represent Italy at Eurovision. His song “Soldi” topped the charts of Italy, Greece, Israel and Lithuania and entered the Top-10 in five more countries. At Eurovision, he placed 2nd with 472 points.

In 2020, he co-composed Elodie’s entry for Sanremo and in 2021, he co-composed Francesca Michielin & Fedez’s entry for Sanremo, which placed 2nd. Last June he released his second album, which was peaked at the 2nd place in Italy and was also charted in Spain and Switzerland.

Riccardo Fabbriconi or Blanco was born on February 10, 2003, in Lombardy, Italy.

His career started in 2020, when he released his first EP on SoundCloud. Soon after he sign a contract with a record label and released his debut album, which topped the Italian charts. In addition he has released a number of singles, many of which topped also the charts.

Earlier this year, the two artist collaborated and entered the Italian music festival Festival di Sanremo. Their entry “Brividi”, which means “Shivers”, won Sanremo and they gained the right to represent Italy in Eurovision.

Their song is composed by Alessandro Mahmoud , Riccardo Fabbriconi and Michele Zocca (Michelangelo).

Italy is a prequalified country to the final and we already know that it will perform 9th at the show. However Italians will also be able to vote in the first semifinal.

What do you think about the song? Can Italy win again? Write your thoughts in the comments below!