Exactly 20 years ago, on May 7, 2001, peeped into the still thriving Italian music industry Tre parole, dazzling debut of the singer-songwriter Valeria Rossi. A piece only apparently frivolous and forgettable, but in reality metaphorical and with melancholy veins. Thanks to its catchy and jovial refrain, played all on the clichés of our music ("Give me three words: sun, heart and love"), Tre parole quickly climbed the charts, to become the second most purchased single of the year (beat only from the dance success of Kylie Minogue Can't Get You out of My Head), with more than 100.000 sales, topped off by two platinum records.
However, there is something that the numbers do not say about Three Words, such as its ability to enter the collective imagination and still be indelibly engraved in the memories of the young people of that time and of the less young of today. An increasingly rare phenomenon, especially in the era of Spotify, where the hits often last a blink of an eye, only to be quickly overcome by the subsequent media phenomenon, in an infinite chain of inconsistency. But there is also more. Even if at the time of the release not even Valeria Rossi herself would have imagined it, Tre parole has managed to photograph the confidence and lightheartedness of an entire generation, which would shortly have lost its innocence with 11/XNUMX, only to quickly see all security vanish as a result of disastrous economic, political crises for the youngest and, finally, pandemics.
With its simple, effective, symbolic text that instantly ignites the desire for life and joy, Tre parole is the most faithful image of the last truly happy and luxuriant Italy that we can remember. We talked about the twentieth birthday of this song with the author Valeria Rossi.
Valeria Rossi told us about her feelings about the twentieth anniversary of Three Words
I decided to celebrate this anniversary with some events, because I realized that in these 20 years it has received many gifts and I am trying to give them back. I started with an image of a pair of two-person wedding rings, engraved with the words “Sun, Heart, Love” and decided to use this month to build some community around this song. Recently, I organized the sale of Three Words memorabilia, with clothes and even props from the video clip. A project whose proceeds went to charity to Aflin Onlus, which takes care of the rights of Indian girls. If I can give a voice to women who don't have one, I will. It is my vocation, also because of my personal experience.
Three words is all a metaphor, his words are symbolic and universal, they do not speak to the intellect. It is a hypertext, which is almost more appreciated today. At the time of the release the air that was around arrived more, while today the message is understood more. It is a very Zen, very Taoist text, but perhaps it was a little ahead of its time.
As we mentioned at the beginning, the memory of Three Words is more alive than ever.
There is now more sensitivity to a certain type of language. Some had already grasped it at the time, such as Umberto Eco, who was a great admirer of Three Words. It remained the photograph of a moment, perhaps the last carefree of the Italians, because after between Berlusconi, the changeover to the Euro and September 11th there was a scourge worse than the other. It was a very transversal song, a bittersweet work. There was a tinge of melancholy. For me it was a cry of despair, which contained sweet but also bitter tones, like life. Three words contained various emotions.
The original text was darker and more crepuscular, like the sounds, then I accepted the suggestions of some collaborators and we made sure that it also contained a proposal, not just a lament. The refrains are always an opening, and Tre parole's has become a statement that touched many people. Some tell me it was the soundtrack for their wedding movie. I enjoyed gathering so many people into a kind of tribe.
Valeria Rossi then spoke of the references to the song in subsequent pop culture:
Three words has had so many tributes, from Boris to We just have to crime, passing through Sole heart love of Daniele Vicari. One of those I am most proud of is that of the riddle Stefano Bartezzaghi, a pupil of Umberto Eco. Blob also used it several times to contrast violent images, such as those of Diaz.
The singer-songwriter then told us about the iconic Three Words video, which you can (re) see at the beginning of the article:
Even though it required a lot of work and the help of many collaborators, Three Words was not built at a table. The spark of the video was the intuition to revolve everything around the smile. There was nothing, just some symbolic disturbing elements, of the Jungian archetypes. The main symbol had to be the smile, which I have now taken up in my posts. I came out of the artist's self-referentiality, what matters is the smile, it doesn't matter if it's mine.
Valeria Rossi then made a necessary reference to the ever-current debate on the condition of women:
There is more awareness now. Fortunately, with their peculiar sensitivity, women are rebalancing this patricentric vision that mutilates itself with an unappreciated sensitivity, because it cannot be measured and cannot be manipulated. Women don't want to take anything away from anyone, they just want to be; they claim their right to be. Over time I have gained awareness, and now I make very specific choices. To myself yesterday I would say to have more faith in the universe, because many times we find ourselves doing things dictated by an unknown force, which then turn out to be signifiers.
But is there an heir of Valeria Rossi? The singer-songwriter thinks like this:
Among the new generation, one that is quite outside the box, in an amiable and non-contrasting way, in my opinion is Francesca Michielin. I noticed her immediately at X Factor, where she carried out her truth with great naturalness, without proclamations. She is also making some important choices with her Tomboy podcast.
Finally, Valeria Rossi told us about her future projects:
I just finished writing a book with a very passionate independent publisher. We're defining the release date, it's called The Clutter Inside.
Tagmusica Valeria Rossi tells Three words: the photograph of an entire generation
