Blanco is back. With his voice. Three years after the last album (“Innamorato”, it was 2023), Riccardo Fabbriconi – this is his real name – returns with a new recording project entitled Ma’. Written between Italy and England, it is dedicated to his mother (“We have a very close relationship, the album was born from an argument with her”, he said). A track is also addressed to her, which is entitled Ma’. So Blanco on the scene with a record that talks about emotions, feelings but this time more personal and intimate. Less passionate, there is less anger. Blanco is more mature, but still in his own way and that is without rules.

The album was born from an introspective journey and you can feel it. The (more or less) suffocated pain that has always characterized his songs is there, however this time the impression is that Blanco wanted to take a small step forward. Anyone looking for a hit won’t be disappointed. Who’s looking for a romantic ballad, neither. And not even those who expected something different. Blanco puts everyone in agreement with Ma’, composed of 15 songs, of which 4 are already known. These are the wonderful ‘Piangere a 90’ and then ‘Maledetta Rabbia’ (among the few songs that truly recall Blanco’s early days) and the more recent ‘Even at twenty years old you die’ and ‘Ricordi’ with Elisa.

There are some songs that have something special. This is the case of “Fuori dai denti”. “Blanchito baby, Michelangelo give me wings”: the incipit is reassuring. It makes you think of his hits. And indeed that is how it is. Here too we find the Blanco of the beginning: transgressive, young and rebellious. He sings: “I don’t feel like making good choices at my age, I would like to spit all my feelings out of my teeth”.

The duet with Grignani in “Peggio del Diavolo”, but the true masterpiece is “A better place”

“I love you man” is almost psychedelic on a sound level while the text is a letter addressed to himself, then in ‘Peggio del Diavolo’ he duets with Grignani. There is no defined common thread. One of the reasons could be linked to the fact that the songs were not all composed in the same period (“We had started many songs years ago and then left them there, halfway through. But like good wine, they have improved over time. However, a lot of it was born here in Italy”, he admitted).

The most striking song is ‘A better place’. It begins with a soft piano, the kind you hear in the lobbies of elegant hotels. A round of notes and Blanco’s voice enters: “Call me crazy but let me dream of flying over the sea; let me look at the water that shines thanks to the sun”. The song proceeds through images, those that only Blanco can give. He amazes again (especially considering his young age) and reaches its climax with the sax solo (which recalls a bit of Venditti, a bit of Achille Lauro). The song that gives its name to the album is also intense, but it couldn’t be otherwise. A singing epistle with which Blanco takes off his role as an artist and becomes simply Riccardo. A son writing to his mother. He confesses to her that he is unable to love himself the way she loves him. It shows limits and insecurities: “I’m afraid of myself”, “I don’t know what I’ve become anymore”, “You’re always right but, this life sucks, you warned me”.

Blanco does not disappoint expectations (and doesn’t care about the rules)

Ma’ is a fragmented album, without a single thread connecting the songs. But it is not a flaw, rather it is the photograph of a growth that ultimately does not need linear paths to function. And then linearity is certainly not a concept that can be compared to Blanco who made surprise and ‘madness’ his winning cards. In a market obsessed with concept albums or photocopy records, Blanco allows himself the luxury of being inconsistent. He doesn’t care, as he often has. He goes from whisper to shout without many reservations. Maybe not everything is perfect, but it is precisely in this disorder that we recognize an artist who has taken a big step by releasing what, at the moment, is his most mature album. Now Blanco no longer needs to shout to be heard.

‘Ma’, the journey map: the complete tracklist

1. I love you, man – A sincere dedication to himself

2. But’– The love letter to mother

3. Worse than the devil (with Gianluca Grignani) – The duet you don’t expect

4. I’m not born again anyway – One of the most ‘played’ pieces on the album

5. Memories (with Elisa) – Two voices that come together perfectly (but the melody is nothing special)

6. Los Angeles – Guitar and vocals

7. Even at twenty you die – The ‘old’ Blanco

8. December 15 (first) – A pleasant piece, but it almost doesn’t seem to be by Blanco

9. July 27 (after) – The ‘continuation’ of December 15th. Sounds that surprise (but don’t excite)

10. Woo – The piece with which the whole stadium jumps

11. Fires in the air (luck) – To be listened to in front of the sea, at sunset

12. Out of the way – Among the best songs on the entire album

13. Crying at 90 – Poetry

14. Damn Anger – The furious Blanco (who resists)

15. A better place – One of Blanco’s most intense songs. Always, not just the album.

The album will be presented live between April and May 2026 during “The first tour of the arenas” by Blanco, produced and organized by Friends & Partners and Vivo Concerti. Tickets are available on Ticketone and in the usual sales points. These events are also accompanied by the “Summer Tour 2026”.

From Blanco to Samurai Jay: the (boring) trend of mammon singers