RUSH! — Måneskin
“
If you're gonna set fire to the night
Baby, let me be the lighter
If you're already high and you wanna fly
I'll be the hit that takes you higher
If you wanna love when you touch the sky
You can be my midnight rider
If there's nowhere to go and you wanna go wild
I wanna be the driver
“
— THE DRIVER, Måneskin
A week ago, Måneskin released its new album record — RUSH! with 5 more new songs. THE DRIVER is one of them.
My first article is already about them, but I pre-ordered the record, and just have to talk about this album that includes both some of the older songs and those new songs. I’ll never get tired talking about them anyway.
One of the 5 new songs, TRASTEVERE, was first shared in one of their concerts, which I was super lucky because that one also happens to be the one that we went to.
To me, Måneskin’s songs lies in two extremes: one end lies fast tempo, high energy, hard rock songs; the other end lies deeply emotional, serious, melodic songs. This one definitely belongs to the more emotional end. It sings about the importance of your loved ones, first about making a deal with the devil for talents in exchange for their life, and breaking the pact later in the song since “fame and money means nothing without the people we love.”
In their storyline for this song on Spotify, they revealed that they first performed this song live to their friends and family, and later decided to share it to their fans as a gift. The song’s name, “TRASTERVERE”, is the name of their hometown neighborhood, where they wrote the song at their guitarist, Thomas’, place and kept the raw emotions.
Personally, I like the more high-tempo and intense songs within the 5 new songs. Despite that most of their songs lies in the two extremes, like I described before, their song “THE DRIVER” is a bit of a blend, which makes it uniquely pleasant to listen to.
In their first verse and pre-chorus, Damiano sings rather slowly and deeply:
“
Bare your soul 'til it's naked
Bite my lip 'til you break it
Steal my heart, get it wasted
Don't do it slow
“
— THE DRIVER, Måneskin
Then the tempo rises, energetic drum beats enters, and he sings hastily and urges:
“
If you're gonna set fire to the night
Baby, let me be the lighter
If you're already high and you wanna fly
I'll be the hit that takes you higher
If you wanna love when you touch the sky
You can be my midnight rider
If there's nowhere to go and you wanna go wild
I wanna be the driver
“
— THE DRIVER, Måneskin
A period of fast and raw instrumental break follows right after the chorus, before they enter another cycle of passionate and emotional second verse and pre-chorus, then an asking and wanting chorus. After an epic guitar solo, Damiano finishes the song with a slower, deeper, and more emotional version of the main chorus, again asking to be the partner that the person desires. With a mixture of ups and downs, fasts and slows, singing and instrumentals, they illustrated a deeply entangled relationship to the fullest. One would be surprised that so much emotion can be packed into the way Damiano sings the words “lighter”, “rider”, and “driver” at the end of the song. He’s truly a phenomenal hard rock vocalist.
I always say that every artist has composed a song dedicated to a name, a persona. For Harry Styles, it’s Matilda; for Conan Gray, it’s Heather; for Måneskin, it’s Valentine. Valentine is such a classic, almost cheesy name, but it’s good just because. Think the 70’s or the 80’s, traditional beauty. This signature vibe resonates throughout the song. The deep, electric guitar instrumental dances along with a deep, magnetic vocal:
“
All this love, I'm so choked up
I can feel you in my blood
All this lust for just one touch
I'm so scared to give you up
Valentine, my decline is so much better with you
Valentine, my decline, I'm always runnin' to you
Valentine
Valentine
”
— VALENTINE, Måneskin
Made it a classical, yet somehow also modernized love song.
My words cannot describe their new record enough. I’ll definitely be listening to them in repeat for the foreseeable future.
