Occidentali's Karma
| "Occidentali's Karma" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Single by Francesco Gabbani | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Magellano | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Released | 10 February 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Songwriter(s) |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Francesco Gabbani singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Music video | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Occidentali's Karma" on YouTube | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 "Occidentali's Karma" |
|
|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2017 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) | |
| Language | |
| Composer(s) |
|
| Lyricist(s) |
|
| Finals performance | |
| Final result |
6th
|
| Final points |
334
|
| Appearance chronology | |
| ◄ "No Degree of Separation" (2016) | |
"Occidentali's Karma" (English: Westerners' Karma) is a song performed by Italian singer Francesco Gabbani. The song was released as a digital download on 10 February 2017 through BMG Rights Management as the lead single from his third studio album Magellano (2017). The song was written by Gabbani, Filippo Gabbani, Fabio Ilacqua, and Luca Chiaravalli. It won the Sanremo Music Festival 2017 and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
The main theme of the song is the superficial lifestyle of westerners, mainly based on materialism and appearance. The lyrics refer to the internet as the opiate of the poor (in reference to Marx), 'selfie addiction', internet know-it-alls, and a society based on conformity and uniformity. As a result, our evolution seems to 'stumble' instead of moving forward.
According to Gabbani, the chorus of the song is a mockery of westerners who believe they can take Eastern cultures and "westernise" them. The song cites such aspects of Eastern and Indian religions as the Buddha and Nirvana as well as man's evolution from the ape, an idea which he got from reading The Naked Ape, written by British ethologist Desmond Morris. In an interview with La Repubblica, Desmond Morris praised the song for the "clear and fanciful reference to the theories" described by him, and for "the precision and sophistication of the lyrics" like Bob Dylan and John Lennon. Morris also added that he wanted Francesco Gabbani to win the Eurovision Song Contest.
The song begins with a reference to William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Gabbani wants to highlight how modern society is divided between spirituality and appearances, describing people as "selfie-addicted".
...
Wikipedia