ROSE VILLAIN - Radio Vega

Tu sai amarmi per due quando io non mi amo

Quando ho paura in macchina, sai andare più piano

Tu sai fingerti attento durante il mio film preferito

Even if you've already seen it several times and never liked it

Ma sapermi felice per te è tutto

The idea behind “Radio Gotham” (2023), already betrayed by “Radio Sakura” (2024), has now been definitively shelved with the announcement of a “Radio Trilogy” which, besides making everything sound rather pretentious, misleads the listener once again: not only is there no trace of the promising, if decidedly imperfect, gothic-cinematic atmosphere of the debut, but the only thing the chapters of the trilogy actually have in common is that they're released under the name Rose Villain. As we've already written, the singer-rapper has little time to waste – success came a bit late by industry standards – and so she keeps attacking on multiple fronts: hosting the imminent second season of “Nuova scena,” her branded cosmetics line, yet another appearance at Sanremo, and her third album in two years and two months. This “Radio Vega,” however, confirms the pessimism of this writer, as it stumbles along between weak, incoherent ideas.

The tracklist ends up being a bit of a grab bag, with no overall design ever emerging. The lyrics are thin, a collection of thoughts that often shrink into throwaway lines, phrases that at best raise a smile for their edgy cut but more often than not are simply embarrassing.

The opening track “Il bacio del serpente” (feat. Guè) promises a more introspective and daring album, with glitch details, but even Dogo's verse struggles to find anything distinctive. Rose Villain indulges in the kitsch of Kanye West-style maximalist gospel on “Millionaire”, hobbled by its whiny delivery.

There's even less substance in “No vabbè” (feat. Lazza) and “Ancora” (feat. Geolier), perhaps just good excuses to host big mainstream names, as is also the case with “Bop” (feat. Fabri Fibra)

The eighties-flavored Italian pop of “Musica per dimenticare” is worthy of Thegiornalisti and has nothing to do with the pop-trap of “Patrick Bateman”, yet another perfect little tune for TikTok, best paired with the “Fuorilegge” we heard at Sanremo.

The ballads are thoroughly forgettable: the acoustic-guitar “Lacrimogeni” (feat. Chiello) is at best fit for a teen comedy, with pathetic lyrics and a clichéd arrangement; the orchestral, cinematic “Smith & Wesson” dwells on stale ideas both in content and form; the intimate, self-reflective “Tu sai” comes across as a mushy, muddled middle-school essay, with a rock guitar droning in the background.

“Radio Vega” is a mess, sloppy and slapdash. Among the (too few) women in our pop-rap scene, Rose Villain could have been, just two years ago, a name worth following. Today, with far more ears tuned in, she no longer seems to have much to say. At least for a while, maybe it's better to stop changing the station and just switch the radio off.

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22/03/2025