An album born "without haste, without deadlines, without need," nurtured by letting songs arrive and find their place. Malika Ayane returns five years after her last studio project with 'Cicale', her new album of original tracks out on September 18th via Carosello Records, featuring ten songs in which she observes love, change and above all the passing of time.
"I started writing it four years ago, when I felt like collecting songs without knowing when, how or why they would come out," Ayane explains. "It's an agricultural work in which the way you look at things is the true substance." A creative process different from the past, which ultimately gave rise to what the singer-songwriter paradoxically considers her most intimate work: "There's a Malika who looks outward, and an interior that manifests itself through that gaze. It's the most introspective thing I've ever done, even while focusing on what lies elsewhere."
At the heart of 'Cicale' is above all everyday life, "the most enjoyable of all the things I know."
"I don't write about myself, but about things I've experienced indirectly, through people I love and situations I know for other reasons." And while the ten tracks revisit the awareness, uncertainties and contradictions of adulthood, for Ayane it is also a matter of perspective: "The songs were finished in terms of writing last spring. It's probably the fact of evaluating them today that leads me to look at them with a particular attention to the passing of time and to adulthood."
Among the tracks is "Animali notturni," presented at the most recent Sanremo Festival, where it surprised audiences with its sounds and atmosphere compared to her previous appearances. "It was received with affection and I'm very happy. It's a light song, full of rhythm. Perhaps it caught people off guard compared to my previous Sanremo entries, but in reality it represented an already very well-established side of my discography and musical expression." Her bond with the Festival, however, remains. "It's a place you always enjoy returning to, especially because each time it was an expression of what I was doing at that moment."
But for 2027, Ayane is closing the door, at least for now: "I'm not even thinking about it — the 'Squid Games' mixed with 'Hunger Games' to secure a spot have truly begun. I've just released an album and I want to take it on the road as much as possible." And it is indeed live that the new phase of 'Cicale' will begin. Following the in-store tour, kicking off on September 18th in Milan, from November Ayane will return to Italy's main theatres, with stops including Rome, Florence, Milan, Turin, Naples, Catania, Palermo and Bologna, among others. The setlist, however, is still entirely to be built. "We have two scenarios: on one hand, drawing on the sentimental and emotional side, on the other, the lighter and more celebratory one." The challenge will be making them coexist: "Fortunately, I also have a crybaby audience. The hard part will be balancing these two sides of me, which are increasingly independent of one another."
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