Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter’s newest „Person of Interest“ is the Italian singer and Måneskin frontman who hopes to inspire others to face their fears with his first solo album, ‚FUNNY little FEARS.‘
By Carly Thomas
Associate Editor
People typically run away from their fears, but Damiano David took them head-on for his first solo album.
The 26-year-old Italian singer and Måneskin frontman hoped to create a manual for others with his first solo endeavor, FUNNY little FEARS, which dives deep into the “experiences that brought me from a very unhappy place to where I am today,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.
While the 14-track album — which also features Suki Waterhouse and d4vd on two songs — offers a “larger window” into who David is as a person and artist, he also acknowedges it’s “impossible” for his fans to understand everything about him, but hopes that “some people can see that we’re actually more similar than they think.”
Related Stories
Below, David opens up about the inspiration behind his new album, what he’s looking forward to the most about his upcoming tour, how he balances his personal and public life, whether Måneskin will release more music as a group in the future and why it’s “gonna be all guts” from here on out.
Can you expand on what you mean when you describe FUNNY little FEARS as a “manual to face your fears”?
This album is the storytelling of a journey and it’s my point of view on the experiences that brought me from a very unhappy place to where I am today. And the album was the way to do it and it was the way to heal and evolve and get to the next chapter of my life. It’s basically my POV of that, so it’s a manual in the way that hopefully people, through my experience, can also see themselves and reuse it.
What inspirations did you draw from for the sound of this solo project, and what does this chapter mean for you as an artist?
To find the sound, I had no history as a solo artist, so I could have done anything and that was quite fun and I tried a bunch of different things, and I saw what I was resonating more with and what made me happier and more fun, etc. I would say that the research and the creative part is always my favorite part, and that really brought back the magic that music has for me and I always did everything with so much joy and enthusiasm, and it felt really good.
Based on the singles you dropped leading up to the album release, can listeners expect to hear and feel even more emotion with the rest of the album?
Yeah, definitely. I would say every song talks about an experience that is pretty recent, especially if we consider the time the song was written. So the emotions were quite fresh. Also the majority of the vocals are the original vocals of the writing session, so it’s like the first time I sang it, so there’s that rawness and that emotion that is fresh and belongs to the moment. It’s a very personal album, so it makes sense that it feels emotional.
A post shared by Damiano David (@damianodavid)
What do you want Måneskin fans to know about your new solo journey, and do you hope they come along with you?
The day one fans are gonna be able to understand more, even like the band’s music because they’re gonna be able to understand more of my point of view, what was my role, what was my contribution in it. It’s like a larger window on myself, but at the same time, I don’t give this album the chore to make me understood and have people really know me because that’s impossible, like it’s a game that you cannot win. You would have to spend time with all your fans and that’s actually impossible. But I am a person and I have my experiences and my feelings and that’s just like the translation in music of that. So maybe some people can see that we’re actually more similar than they think.
What are you looking forward to the most about your solo world tour later this year?
Again, the creative part, it’s my favorite part, so even just having the chance to imagine the stage and imagine how the show is gonna go, it’s already very fun and rewarding for me. But if you break down what a tour means from the perspective of the fan, it means waiting for the ticket to be released, buying the ticket, getting on the car, the plane, whatever, going to the venue, waiting, getting into the venue, watching the whole show and then driving back home. It’s so special and so absurd in a good way, but incredible to think that there’s people who travel to watch me sing songs for an hour. I think that’s what brings back the project to reality because especially nowadays, we write songs and everything and that feels very real, then the songs go on Spotify and Apple Music and that’s digital and it’s kind of hard to grasp what the music’s doing, especially in the last few years, streaming is less reliable on feedback. Also I don’t want to really know what’s going on, like I live nicely without knowing (Laughs). But then when you play, you have the people in front of you and they scream and they sweat and they have voices and they have a smell and you can touch them, like it’s real and the music creates real feelings and it’s in front of your face, so it’s quite fun, quite special.
Can you tease what fans can expect from the show?
No, because I still don’t know what I can expect, like I’m truly still designing the show (Laughs).
Having worked as a group with Måneskin for so many years, were you nervous at all about setting out to do a solo project?
At the beginning, it was very, very stressful. It was actually one of my biggest anxiety triggers, having to go to basically a stranger’s house and open myself so we could write music, and that felt quite crazy at the beginning, but then I found the right people and it became actually my favorite part.
It seems like fashion also plays a big part for you as a person and a performer. What are your inspirations when it comes to your style?
Honestly, I don’t really look up to something or someone. For me, it’s more about feeling good in what I wear and feeling like the clothes are an extension of my body and just something that I can feel good in. So there’s no like crazy thinking around that for me, it’s more like, looks good, feels good, I rock with it.
What does your perfect day off look like for you?
Now my perfect off day looks like I’m packing boxes because I just moved into my new apartment (Laughs), so we’re in the middle of unboxing all the moving stuff. But I’m a very home person, so like wake up, lazy breakfast, workout, long shower, then you rest, then you eat, then play PlayStation or watch a movie, you go out, some shopping or you go eat something, like very simple. I’m a very simple person.
How do you navigate balancing your personal and public life, especially with having a somewhat public relationship with Dove Cameron?
Some things are inevitable and they come with being exposed. And it doesn’t matter truly who you are, like sometimes you can be an awful person and people have a good perception of you, and you can be a very nice person and people have a wrong perception of you, and that’s something that you cannot fight. You also have to remember that none of this is real, meaning that even when you have a huge burst of hate towards you, it’s always a very small portion of the population, because actually the real people, like the normal people, they don’t interact negatively on socials.
And just hold on to the real-life things, you know, try to base your judgment of yourself from the people close to you rather than the people on the internet. Don’t always read comments and if you feel like answering your comment, answer, like you’re free to do it. We’re free to do whatever, and usually, we’re in a position where something can really hurt, but we’re really in the position to screen it and don’t look at it if we don’t want to. At the end of the day, unless you did something truly terrible and deserve hate, we’re quite safe.
What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve been able to overcome to help get you to where you are today?
For a person that really struggles with loneliness and [being] introduced to new people and to new environments, being able to move to a new city and start a new project on my own was quite a success for me. I’m quite proud of myself for doing it.
So many people are about to be obsessed with your new album, but is there anything you’re obsessed with at the moment?
Let’s explore some Italian music. There’s the guy that’s gonna go to Eurovision this year, his name is Lucio Corsi, he just released his album. It’s a very, very good album, and I think for someone that wants to discover Italian music, it’s a good window ‘cause in Italy we have a big tradition of like singer-songwriters, and he’s a songwriter and he really is in that style, so he’s like a modern look on something that is traditionally Italian, so if you wanna look, he’s a good one.
I know music means something different for each person, but what does music overall mean to you?
How can I put it ‘cause I don’t wanna say everything (Laughs), but it’s really where I feel I belong. It’s like my place on Earth. For me, it’s the best way to know myself, to understand what’s going on in my brain. And then when he gets to perform, it’s the best output for anything, and then when it comes to creativity, it’s really that sparkle that makes you really want to wake up and do things and love life and all these things. It’s really the fuel in the tank, you know.
Looking ahead, would you like to do more solo projects in the future?
Yeah. My goal is to do music in a way that makes me feel happy first of all. So the future for me, it’s all gonna be about following the instinct of that moment and I’m really re-educating myself on trusting my guts. So it’s gonna be all guts.
Could fans also expect more music from Måneskin in the future?
When the time is right, yeah.
If you had to describe what makes Damiano David, Damiano David, what would you say?
I learned how to really base my happiness and how I perceive myself outside of my job from the relationships I have in my real life, so my approach now to music is that it’s as free as it can possibly be. Because I’m happy with Måneskin that we got all the fancy awards that everybody fights for. So my heart is happy with it, and now my music is literally just about what I feel like saying in that moment and having fun, so I hope there’s no doubt.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.