Irama (singer)

Growing up in Monza, he declared to have been interested in the music of Francesco Guccini and Fabrizio De André since he was a child, and then he approached hip pop. His artistic name, chosen after having anagrammed the second name, Maria, means "rhythm" in Malay.[5]

On November 27, 2015, with the song "Cosa resterà", written with Giulio Nenna, he was among the eight winners of the eighth edition of the Sanremo Giovani song contest, which allowed him to be admitted to the Sanremo Music Festival in the New Proposte category.[6][7] The single reached the 100th position of the Italian Singles Charts and anticipated the singer's debut studio album, titled Irama, released on February 12, 2016, under the Warner Music Italy label, debuting at the 51st position of the FIMI's Chart.[8][9] On May 27, 2015, the second single "Tornerai da me" was released and lately certified gold by FIMI.[10] The commercial launch of the single "Mi drogherò" marked the end of the artistic partnership between Irama and Warner Music Italy, due to the low promotion that the label reserved to the songwriter.[11]

At the end of 2016, in search of a record relaunch, Irama decided to participate in the seventeenth edition of the talent show Amici di Maria De Filippi.[12] After the victory of the program, he signed again the contract with Warner Records,[13] releasing the single "Un giorno in più", debuting at position 24 of the FIMI ranking and obtaining the gold certification.[9] The second single "Nera", also performed during the television show, was launched as a single on June 1, achieving the second position of the Top Singles Chart, solding over 150,000 copies.[14] In the same month he published the EP, produced by Giulio Nenna and Andrea Debernardi, entitled Plume, which reached the top of the FIMI Album ranking and was certified double platinum for having sold over 100,000 copies.[15]

On October 19, 2018, just four months after the previous recording project, the second studio album by the singer-songwriter entitled Giovani, which debuted at the top of the FIMI Albums Chart and was lately certified Platinum.[16] The album was supported by the commercial launch of the single "Bella e rovinata", which reached twenty-first place in the Top Singles. In January 2019, his participation in the Sanremo Music Festival was announced with the song "La ragazza con il cuore di latta", which peaked at number three of FIMI's chart and sold over 100,000 copies.[17] On 3 June 2019 the single "Arrogante", written by Federica Abbate, was released. It became the singer's third Top10 single on the Italian charts and also sold 100,000 copies.[18]

On March 27, 2020 the new single "Milano" was published, with the participation of Francesco Sarcina, frontman of the group Le Vibrazioni.[19] In May 2020 Irama was casted for the spin-off Amici Speciali with other Amici's previous contestant, including Giordana Angi, The Kolors, Gaia and Alberto Urso, and released the single "Mediterranea", which peaked at number one of Italian Singles Chart.[20]