Next week Serbia will begin the search for its representative for Eurovision 2023 and a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to talk with Mattia Zanatta about his entry for Pesma za Evroviziju, he will sing “Novi svet” together with Angela Kassiani in the 1st semi-final on March 1, you can check our interview below.

Hello Mattia Zanatta and thank you for taking you time for ESCBubble! First of all, how was your reaction when you heard you will  be at Pesma za Evroviziju 2023?
For me it was completely unexpected news. There were lot of very contradictory news in the media about the number of songs that were presented to the competition, it seems that hundreds of songs have arrived at the selection and, receiving the news that my song has been chosen among the 32 for the semi-finals, I cannot hide that I was surprised and very proud.

What made you decide to enter Pesma za Evroviziju and what are your expectations from the contest?
It was actually almost a coincidence. Definitely, it was not my intention to participate but when Mr. Škarić, the founder and the owner of Skymusic Corporation, heard my song entitled “Novi svet”, he recognised its potential and immediately proposed me to nominate the song for admission to PZE 2023. My expectations from the competition are simply to enjoy the moment, do my best and try to get the best result – which doesn’t have to be necessary a victory. The best result means that the song becomes successful and to follow my rise as a singer.

You shared the stage with Dušan Svilar while performing at Rock Opera, he also tried to represent Serbia at Eurovision, could you tell us how was that experience for you and if Dušan suggested you to try Eurovision?
Actually, Dusan Svilar is a great friend and colleague and more then during the Rock Opera, we shared the stage during the project “3 tenors, love stories” and “3 tenors, the great film adventure”. Returning to Dusan Svilar: the experience with him has always been very positive. He has an incredible voice and personality that stimulated me to improve further myself. For me he is certainly among the best Serbian singers, or the best Serbian singer in his genre.

We saw you worked with Michele Bonivento and Predrag Cvetković for your Eurovision song called “Novi svet”, can you tell us what was the inspiration behind it and if it was written specially for the contest?
Michele Bonivento is a great modern Italian composer, arranger, pianist, producer and, also, my friend. I’ve been collaborating with him for a long time and we wrot a lot of beautiful music together. I can’t say more for now, but big news will come soon. The biography and story of this piece is very interesting. Michele offered me to listen to some things he did. Of the many promising arrangements and compositions that I heard, one in particular immediately left a strong impression – it was this song. I asked Michele to give me all the material and I worked on it personally. I re-edited the song, modified several aspects. I sent the piece back to Michele who was struck very positively by changes I made. He still proposed some changes that I welcomed and we arrived at the final version. The Song was born with text written by me entirely in English but, on the occasion of PZE, Pedrag Cvetkovic helped in writing parts in Serbian. Furthermore, from a solo piece, always in occasion of the PZE, it has become a duet. In fact, I will have the honour of sharing the stage with Angela Kassiani, a very talented artist and above all a wonderful person.

Could you tease us a little bit with your staging for Pesma za Evroviziju? What can we expect from your performance?
The preparation of the show was treated in detail by all the professionals who work at RTS1 – put national TV. The scenography, costumes, choreography, make-up and hair-style have been studied to give a moment of music and entertainment at the highest levels. I really have to thank everyone because I didn’t expect so much availability in satisfying our requests and the sensitivities of soloists. In fact, first of all they asked us how we would like to see ourselves on stage. But the most important thing and what I appreciated the most is that they told us that everything has to be adapted to our sensitivity, our character and our personality. In short, the human factor always makes the difference. I really expect that our performance, if it will be done entirely as we planned, will be a spectacular one.

Which of the other contestants are you excited to see in this year’s selection? And who do you consider to be your biggest competitor?
I’m curious to see all the other 31 contestants. I know that many of the musical genres I will not like, but I also consider this competition as a moment of comparison and growth. There is always something to learn even from those genres that are very distant from my taste. This is the reason why I do not consider anyone as my competitor, but rather as an opportunity for comparison, for starting some new and stimulating collaborations and, why not, new friendships. But I have to be honest that I was very enthusiastic when I saw that my dear friend, professor and Maestro Zoran Todorović, together with 2 colleagues, will take a part and I just can’t wait to listen to his song!

Do you follow Eurovision and do you have a favorite song from the contest?
I know that maybe the public will expect from me, as being Italian, to reply now that I like the winning song of Toto Cutugno, but I am afraid I do not I remember some songs that were not among the winners and very interesting and catchy song “Euforia” that won Eurovision contest in 2012.

And any other plans for 2023? Can we expect new music from Mattia Zanatta?
I hope 2023 will finally be the year in which my career will take a big take off. Several completely new songs will start coming out soon. In some of these I act as the author of the music and lyrics, but some was written by talented composers especially for me and I act as lyrics author. Moreover, 2 video clips are also being finalised. And this is only the beginning. There is a tour in Egypt planned and also in some other exotic places. In addition, but the most important thing, on the privet plan – I will become a father for the second time right around the time PZE. I would say that there are a lot of news and nice things to happen.

In the end, I want to thank you for your time and please, if you have a message for your fans and our readers here on ESCBubble?
To all my fans and ESCBubble readers I want to send a warm greeting and invite them to follow me, write me and listen to my songs. If I exist it is only thanks to the public. Also, of course, I invite them to vote for me if they like my song at PZE 2023. My big thanks to ESCBubble for the interview and I admit it was a great pleasure for me.

You can listen to Mattia Zanatta & Angela Kassiani’s song for Pesma za Evroviziju ’23 here:

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