Welo signs the acronym of Sanremo 2026 with a reworking of his song Emigrated. The song will accompany all the evenings of the 76th edition of Sanremo Festivaldeparting on February 24, 2026, and effectively becomes the official sound of the event.
A choice that arises from the artist's career a Sanremo Giovani 2025 and which brings a personal and collective story straight to the center of the Festival: a song created to tell the story of leaving out of necessity, today transformed into the opening of every evening.
Who is Welo
Weloborn Manuel Mariano, is a classy artist from Lecce 1999 and one of the most recognizable names of the new urban scene in the South. He grew up in Salento and soon approached rap, founding the collective in 2017 23.7. From 2022 he starts his solo journey with the single Passopening a more defined phase also on an identity level.
His style combines direct writing, territorial roots, popular irony and an often social gaze. In 2023 comes a turning point with Malaisewhile 2024 marks an important transition with the EP WELO WE 23which collects and reworks the path of the early years and includes collaborations (including Enzo Dong and Mikush). The feat con also arrives in September 2024 Gué in My Booa further sign of “high” attention around his name.
The theme song for Sanremo 2026 is by Welo
The announcement is linked to the final of Sanremo Youth of December 14, 2025. Live on Rai1, Carlo Contistruck by the emotional impact and sonic identity of Emigratedproposed transforming the piece, with some small changes suggested by the artistic director, into the official theme song of the Sanremo Festival 2026.
An outcome that goes beyond the competition: despite not accessing the New Proposals, Welo achieves a result that puts him at the center of the Festival, with his voice destined to accompany every evening of the event.
We therefore repeat what happened last year with Gabriel Bridge. His All of Italy he didn't manage to join the big cast of Sanremo 2025 but achieved great success as the theme song of the event.
“Emigrato”: meaning of the Sanremo 2026 theme song
Emigrated he talks about leaving not as a romantic choice or dream of escape, but as a necessity. A condition that belongs to many contemporary stories, especially in Southern Italy, and that in the writing of Welo it becomes a direct, identifying story, without embellishment.
The meaning revolves around uprooting, distance, the sense of loss and the search for redemption that does not come from the epic, but from everyday reality. It is a narrative that puts those who leave at the center because staying is no longer an option.
Precisely for this reason the transformation of Emigrated in the Sanremo 2026 theme song it has a particular symbolic weight: a story born on the margins that becomes the official opening of the Festival, bringing onto the stage an Italy that often remains in the background.
Lyrics of “Emigrato”
The full text of the new version of Emigrated will be added to this article as soon as it is officially available.
