Vietato morire is the second studio album by Albanian-Italian singer-songwriter Ermal Meta, released in Italy on 10 February 2017 by Mescal and distributed by Artist First.[2][3]

Vietato morire
Studio album by
Released10 February 2017 (2017-02-10)
GenrePop[1]
Length68:53
LabelMescal
Ermal Meta chronology
Umano
(2016)
Vietato morire
(2017)
Non abbiamo armi
(2018)
Singles from Vietato morire
  1. "Vietato morire"
    Released: 8 February 2017
  2. "Ragazza Paradiso"
    Released: 16 June 2017
  3. "Piccola anima"
    Released: 10 November 2017

The album featured "Vietato morire", presented by the singer during the 67th Sanremo Music Festival, placing third in the main competition and receiving the Critics' Prize "Mia Martini".[4] The album also featured the collaboration "Piccola anima" with Italian singer-songwriter Elisa.[5]

The album peaked at number one of the Italian Albums Chart, becoming Meta first album to achieve it.[6]

Background and composition

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In 2016 Ermal Meta published his debut album Umano as independent artist.[7] On December 12, 2016 Sanremo Music Festival art director and host Carlo Conti announced the participation of the singer at the competition with the song "Vietato morire".[8]

In January 2017, Ermal Meta announced the publication of his second studio album on February 10, 2017. The album was designed as a double disc, with one part of nine unreleased tracks and one containing tracks from Umano.[9] The album featured two collaborations with Italian singer-songwriter Elisa and Italian musician Luca Vicini.[10]

Critics reception

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Fabio Fiume of All Music Italia described Vietato morire as "a complete record" through which the artist has "a world to tell, [...] with the ability to know how to do it," while the songs "tackle pop music with mastery, keeping boredom and yawns at arm's length and armed" in which the singer's "vocal openings" surprise. Fiume particularly appreciated the song "Piccola anima" with Elisa, in which the two artists "play between vocals."[11]

Mattia Marzi of Rockol wrote that "the songs are all related to the San Remo piece," through the tale of "life that should be preserved, not endangered." Marzi defined the tracks as "heterogeneous," divided between "acoustic and sparse sounds" and "more produced songs with more electronic sounds," which on the whole feature "clear lyrics, simple melodies, catchy refrains" that "have no important pretensions except to reach as many people as possible."[12]

Track listing

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Disc one – Umano[1][13]
No.TitleLength
1."Odio le favole"3:24
2."Gravita con me"3:54
3."Pezzi di paradiso"3:28
4."A parte te"4:38
5."Umano"3:56
6."Volevo dirti"3:21
7."Bionda"3:18
8."Lettera a mio padre"3:53
9."Schegge"5:22
Disc two – Vietato morire[1][13]
No.TitleLength
1."Vietato morire"3:31
2."Ragazza paradiso"3:39
3."Piccola anima" (feat. Elisa)3:41
4."Bob Marley"3:00
5."La vita migliore" (feat. Vicio)3:26
6."New York"3:14
7."Voodoo Love"3:52
8."Rien ne va plus"3:03
9."Voce del verbo"6:13

Commercial performance

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After debuting at number five on the Italian FIMI Albums Chart, the album reached number one in its second week, on 24 February 2017,[14][15] becoming the singer's first album to achieve such an achievement.[16]

Charts

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Weekly charts

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Chart (2017) Peak
position
Italian Albums (FIMI)[17] 1

Year-end charts

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Chart (2022) Position
Italian Albums (FIMI)[18] 33

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[19] Platinum 50,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Mattia Marzi (14 February 2017). "Vietato Morire - Ermal Meta" (in Italian). Rockol.it. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. ^ "Ermal Meta: il featuring con Elisa in Vietato morire". Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana. 24 January 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Ermal Meta e il suo Vietato morire a Pescara". Il Centro (in Italian). 6 March 2017.
  4. ^ Luisa De Montis (12 February 2017). "Dalla critica al miglior testo. Ecco tutti i cantanti premiati". Il Giornale (in Italian). Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  5. ^ "Ermal Meta: 'Piccola anima' è il nuovo singolo con Elisa". Sky TG24 (in Italian). 8 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  6. ^ Chignola, Francesco (13 July 2017). "Ermal Meta (finora) è l'album più venduto di Sanremo 2017". TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (in Italian). Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. ^ "√ Ermal Meta - UMANO - la recensione di Rockol". Rockol (in Italian). 26 February 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  8. ^ Alicandri, Alessandro (12 December 2016). "Sanremo 2017, i nomi dei 22 cantanti in gara al Festival". TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (in Italian). Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  9. ^ "Ermal Meta: il nuovo album (doppio) arriva il 10 febbraio e conterrà un duetto con Elisa". All Music Italia (in Italian). 23 January 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  10. ^ "Ermal Meta, il cofanetto con la Deluxe Edition di Vietato Morire e il tour". TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (in Italian). 7 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  11. ^ Fiume, Fabio (1 March 2017). "Recensione: Vietato Morire - Ermal Meta". All Music Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  12. ^ Marzi, Mattia (14 February 2017). "Ermal Meta e l'arte di scrivere canzoni pop: la recensione di 'Vietato morire'". Rockol (in Italian). Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Ermal Meta - Vietato Morire" (in Italian). AllMusic.com. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  14. ^ "FIMI: Il mestiere della vita di Tiziano Ferro è l'album più venduto" (in Italian). Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  15. ^ "Ermal Meta scala la hit parade". Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata. 24 February 2017.
  16. ^ Alicandri, Alessandro (9 March 2017). "Ermal Meta "Vi racconto tutta la verità su di me"". TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (in Italian). Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Ermal Meta – Vietato Morire". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  18. ^ "Classifica annuale 2017" (Select "Album") (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  19. ^ "Italian album certifications – Ermal Meta – Vietato morire" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 13 November 2017. Select "2017" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Vietato morire" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".