Twenty-five-year-old Matteo Bocelli has performed on renowned stages, built a strong following of fans performing solo and alongside his father, Andrea Bocelli, and is now on the cusp of releasing his debut album, Matteo, due on September 22. Bocelli grew up in a musical family, being educated in music and watching his father's career illuminate the world. As a teenager, he grew into his own tastes and style, and it was then he knew music was the career path he would follow as well, with some hesitation from the elder Bocelli.He teamed up with his father on the duet "Fall On Me," featured in Disney's The Nutcracker And The Four Realms, and went on to record "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from Disney Goes Classical. He struck out on his own with "Solo," and it was evident that Matteo Bocelli is a striking musical talent that goes beyond following in his father's footsteps.
On Matteo, Bocelli seamlessly blends his traditional musical upbringing with a seductive pop, and stands on his own as a genuine performer and artist. With tracks sung in English and Italian, Bocelli presents himself candidly for new listeners, and fans of the Bocelli family will cherish these captivating songs. A longtime fan of Ed Sheeran, Bocelli teamed up with the singer-songwriter for the single "Chasing Stars." A ballad Sheeran wrote about his own father, Bocelli immediately connected with the message about a father telling his son, "Be who you are."
Songfacts spoke to Bocelli about the excitement of his new release, his upcoming first world tour, and what it means for him to be doing this on his own terms.
Matteo Bocelli: It was important, but it's also natural because we are the sum of our life experiences, and I think that this is reflected in music as well. I was born into a family where we were listening mainly to opera, classical music, and those voices like Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, but not very much the rest. My father, he's quite selective in music, he's not very open-minded. But at the same time, I'm from a different generation, so I was listening to Ed Sheeran, Queen, Eminem. I like all music when it's well done.
I've been writing the last three years, and I collected around 100 songs, and then obviously you have to start selecting and go to a 12-song selection. From one side, it's not very easy because you leave out songs that you like as much as the ones that you have on the album. But at the same time, it helped me in the selection also, in that period of my life. I think it is a little bit for every artist like that. Sometimes, the phase of your life helps you in choosing the songs. It depends on which stories you are in the mood to sing and to tell the people. But the most important thing is to be happy with the results, and I am.
Songfacts: You mention Ed Sheeran. Your current single is "Chasing Stars," which was written by him and his brother Matthew. How did you team up for that?Bocelli: I am a big, big fan of his. He's probably one of the few artists who I go through every song when an album first comes out. We love artists, but we may only know eight to 10 songs. But with him it's very different. I saw him for the first time live opening for Taylor Swift in Toronto many, many years ago. Since then, I've seen him three times live, and I met him the first time in Milan at his concert. Then I had the chance to know him as a person a little bit better at our place in Italy when he did "Perfect Symphony"1 with my father. That's where we started having a closer relationship, and from then I received a couple songs from him.
Songfacts: It seemed like it was a really natural fit for you guys to work together. The song "Chasing Stars" is about his father but resonates with you and your relationship with your father. Is that what first struck you about this song?
Bocelli: I always say music has to be authentic. It has to be authentic to every artist, not only about the music and melody, but also about the meaning. "Chasing Stars" had everything. It's a very melodical song. I love the message because it's very positive and beautiful, and the world we live in needs it. It always needs it, but now, in this particular moment, even more. It seemed like they wrote the song for me so that was the point for me. It felt so authentic, and that was one of the most important points for me. I already underlined the beautiful relationship I have with my father but this is a sort of second step song. That also underlined the transition from the beginning with him to another phase of my life, especially with my career where I have to start walking with my own feet.
Songfacts: Obviously your father has had quite an impact on you personally and professionally. How did your relationship with your dad shape your upbringing in music and your career now?
Bocelli: Music in the family was something we all always loved. The only thing he wanted for us was to know music. He didn't want us to make music for life. For him, the only satisfaction was to know music and to be able to read music, so that we could just for fun be at home and be able to play the piano and accompany him singing. My father, in general, is a person who wants his kids to have the best knowledge possible. Music, geography, history, math, whatever, but for him, music had a very important ruling in his life. But never did he want us to make music like a job. Sometimes people think, "Matteo is in this because he had pressure from his father." It's not like that. It's actually the opposite.
When I told him, "Dad, I want to make this passion for music become something more," he was quite afraid and scared for me, because he knows what the music industry is about. It's very tough in every sense. So, he was pretty afraid, but at the end of the day when you see and feel there's a strong passion, you cannot stop a person from doing what he feels and loves.
Bocelli: This is a typical example of authentic music and an authentic message. It happened in the most natural way. He received the song from A Great Big World.2 In the beginning, the song was a love song. It wasn't a father-and-son song - it was a song to be sung by one. I remember my father had to do an album that was made of original songs [2018's Sì] and it had been a while since he had. We were all very excited and he had all his writers that were ready to give him songs that were very much the genre that he always did.
"Fall On Me" was the only song that was really pop. I thought, This is an amazing song. It's beautiful. You can't lose it. You've got to try it. To try to convince him, I thought, Maybe if I make a demo, I may convince him because I'm a lot closer to the way I approach the music vocally. I was kind of similar.
In the end, I ended up singing with him because the producer, Bob Ezrin,3 said, "Who's this guy singing? He's great." My father was like, "This is Matteo." Bob said, "We've got to have a duet with the two of you." And that's how "Fall On Me" happened. It was very natural.
Songfacts: On this album, you really stand out on your own and venture into your own songwriting and craft. Your lead single "For You," is a song you co-wrote, blending a classical tone with pop music. What does this song mean to you and why did you want it to be the first single?
Songfacts: "Beautiful Disaster" is a really moving and emotional song, and probably my favorite song on the album. It's striking and lovely. Where do you find inspiration to get these more emotional songs out?
Bocelli: You kind of gave me goosebumps because I really fought for that song. Not because the team didn't like it, they loved it. But I really wanted that song since the very beginning. We actually made that song in the same writing camp as "Solo." It was actually the first solo song that I did. That song has always been so special to me. It makes me emotional the most as well, and to know that it is also yours, and the favorite song of many, is a big satisfaction. It really punches. It's a song with no filters, emotionally and vocally speaking. It's a song where I've been able to take out different colors of my voice as well. It's the sum of many elements and points, and I hope that people will enjoy the song very much.
Songfacts: This album is uplifting and empowering, and it shows many different facets of you. How would you describe your album to people who might be familiar with your music?
Bocelli: It's always tough to describe your music because it's describing yourself, obviously, because it comes from you and your life experiences. You want people to judge your music and tell you what they think about it. This album is the product of many years of understanding where I wanted to go musically. I started to really write when I signed with my label three or four years ago. I was 21 years old. It's not like I've been writing since I was 14 or 15, as people like Ed Sheeran have. It's been quite a journey, and to see at the end the album came out way better. Because of Covid, it's been a moment for me to stop and reflect and really understand what I wanted from the music I was making. Also, I decided to call this album Matteo because it's me, it's very me. There's no filter in the music I make and it's purely a reflection of myself.
At the end of the day, I don't want people to listen to the songs, trying to figure out what's behind them. I'd rather have them take the song, listen to the song, and try to reflect themselves into the music that I make. Because this is the goal. This is why I don't like to talk in detail about my songs. As Freddie Mercury said in one of his interviews, "I don't like to talk about my songs and the stories behind it because I would limit the imagination of my fans and of the people that listen to my music." I'd rather leave them in their stories. The album is just being released, but in time, people will get to know the real stories. I think it's beautiful like that. You receive the song, you listen to the song, you make it yours when you listen to it, and then it's also fun to know the story behind it with time.
Songfacts: You have a world tour that starts in the fall. What are you most looking forward to on that?
Bocelli: I'm excited to call the tour A Night with Matteo because what I want people to expect from that is a very intimate night. A night feeling like you would be home with me. This will be the approach from me and I hope from the audience as well. It will be intimate even in the way it will be structured. It will be just me on piano and another musician who will play guitar and piano, plus a quartet. It will be very elegant and intimate. It's how I wanted to present myself as a first step. It'll start September 30th in Berlin and then we'll do all the European stuff, a little stop in between, and then the US tour.
Songfacts: You're also very involved musically with your family. Last Christmas, you released the holiday album A Family Christmas with your father and your sister, Virginia. Is that musical connection as a family important?
Bocelli: Music in general is beautiful to be shared, and if you share it with your family, it's even more special. Life in general is about sharing so whenever you share, it's a beautiful thing.
September 14, 2023
For tour dates and album information, visit Matteo Bocelli's official website
Ed Sheeran Songfacts entries
Photos: Mattia Guolo
Footnotes:
- 1] "Perfect Symphony" is a classical reboot of Sheeran's 2017 hit "Perfect," featuring the opera star as his duet partner. The single went to #2 in Italy. (back)
- 2] Formed by the singer-songwriters Ian Axel and Chad King, A Great Big World is a pop-rock duo known for the hits "This Is The New Year" and "Say Something." A version of the latter featuring Christina Aguilera earned them a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2015. They teamed up with Aguilera again for a version of "Fall On Me" in 2020, two years after the Bocellis introduced it. (back)
- 3] Ezrin also produced many of Alice Cooper's classic albums and Pink Floyd's The Wall. (back)
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