Sanremo 2026, the report cards of the songs of the third evening

If Sanremo must inevitably also be a celebration of couples and love, of tandems, better Maria Antonietta with her Omnichord and Colombre with her guitar of many long faces and hands on her heart. Candor, enthusiasm, vintage in an indie pop key. They also have that bit of strangeness that doesn't look bad on the brightly lit stage of the Ariston. Desire for lightness.

The song has nothing to do with the Renato Salvatori look Poor but beautiful and that's a shame. There's the girl who dirties his sweatshirt with black eyeliner, even though she's “more beautiful naturally”, there are the two who lose each other and find each other again, the heart split in half, the peace. It's Leo Gassmann, but it could be anyone and it's a problem.

In the Sanremo of the dead, a living thing. This funk-pop has an invigorating effect that harks back to the post-disco era in which even mainstream Italian singers used grooves and riffs that go “paaaa-pa-pa-pa” to feel and make you feel sexy. “This nostalgia isn't bad.” A question of style.

The renewal of wedding vows, television folklore, a popular celebration with which one can always get away with, with a little showmanship or as they say in Neapolitan. Maximum performance with zero pretensions, Italian style so shameless and free-range that it deserves a pass, even if we would never include Forever yes in a playlist.

He sings it over the lines and over the staves (of the score). It has a passion that at the beginning seems useless if not harmful, then it becomes the very meaning of the song, which especially in the chorus works in this way, unbalanced, a little uncoordinated. You don't fall with style. Among the authors, Antonio Di Martino.

“Time is a wonder for you”, Raf sings to his wife in this sentimental song written with his son who tells their story between his fingers and which is all too reassuring, unfortunately faded like the graffiti in the lyrics. Time is a wonder for him too and perhaps the only thing truly noteworthy is his 66 years. You don't believe it.

Old Sanremo, old song. The first “Repupplica” is never forgotten.

There is no rule, you can get to Ariston after a twenty-five year career or driven by a viral song (we apologize for the word) on TikTok. But then you have to bring something strong to that stage, not this piece from Nuove Proposte interpreted by falling into the arch-Italian misunderstanding according to which shouting is singing.

The fists closed, the eyes and the hand and the chorus raised to the sky to sing of the death of the mother. She too is very right for Conti's “Christian and democratic” Sanremo, much less for us.

“Andale andale”, the Moon that can only be full, the “noche de sexo” (and Belén): it is the song we fear to hear in the next Latin-Italian summer. This is also why so many people take holidays abroad.

It is a confession that has every appearance of being authentic because it tells of unresolved things in life, behind which a pain can be glimpsed. It's Disney-esque (incidentally, excellent composers have written for Disney) because sometimes fairy tales are a refuge. It is also indirectly a statement: you can sing in the wake of the Italian melodic tradition without overdoing it. The retro that is in Sanremo.

The hand in the pocket, the pose, the raised eyebrow, the sobbing song, the usual love drama very intent which is replicated as it was on Tuesday, with certain professionalism. But it's a kind of pop melodrama that's not for us.

The rule even in very light music should be this: one of the two, between the song and the performer, should show a strong personality on stage. There is nothing inappropriate in Mara Sattei and in this song, almost a 2026 version of The cure for me. The problem is that it's all too convenient.

It's a shame for the mistake he made tonight, but the folk-rap song about Italy that is beautiful and grabby, and with a scary dark side, also works because Sayf interprets it with a light-hearted air, proportionate to the light text, with some sharper passages. “I hope it doesn't scare you,” he sings. It is advertising progress to make the housewife of Voghera understand that maranzas are not ugly and bad.