After the success of All of Italy by Gabry Ponte, the 2026 Sanremo Festival entrusts its official theme song to an emerging talent: the Salento rapper Welo. Born in 1999, born Manuel Mariano, the young artist has transformed his song Emigrated in Emigrant (Italian)a jingle designed to accompany the evenings of February 24-28 at the Ariston, with recognizable rhythms and light and festive lyrics.
The genesis of the theme song comes from a promise made by Carlo Conti to Welo during the final of Sanremo Youth. The artist, who reached the final with Emigratedhad not won one of the two places for the Nuove Proposte, but the host proposed that he transform the chorus of the song into a jingle for the Festival. The proposal was confirmed through a video call published on social media, making the project official.
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From the original version to the Sanremo jingle
In the original song, Welo told an intense and personal story, with lines such as:
Emigrant, wretched, idle / This is who I am, I sign, full stop / I don’t like working, I stay in the square, na-na-na / Then we’ll toast with some disability money.
For the Sanremo theme song, the text was revisited in a light and inclusive way:
Italian, carefree, light-hearted / There’s Sanremo and I watch it from the sofa.
The result is an immediate, recognizable and engaging refrain, designed for television and the digital audience, with the characteristic “clap clap” that marks the rhythm and invites participation.
Who is Welo and his artistic journey
Growing up in Salento, Welo discovered music as a refuge and tool for expressing identity at a very young age. In 2017 he founded the collective 23.7, and then embarked on a solo career in 2022 with the single Pass. His music combines sharp lyrics, popular irony and territorial roots, as demonstrated by songs such as Malaise, 4088 And Turning.
In 2024 he released the EP Welo We 23 and collaborates with Guè in My booconsolidating his presence in the Italian rap scene. The transformation of Emigrated in Sanremo’s theme song highlights Welo’s ability to move from a personal and identity story to a television and popular language, while maintaining its authenticity and connection with the young audience. The artist thus becomes the voice of a community, bringing real-life stories to the national spotlight.
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The lyrics of “Emigrato”
Below we leave you the text Emigrated:
Emigrated because the state is always absent here
Unjustified (ah)
Emigrated because the employee is a son of someone who works
I don’t say anything else (I don’t say anything else)
Emigrant, unfortunate (‘ziato)
Jail never changed him (mmh, no)
A Mediterranean woman (okay)
Our values are never up for grabs (mmh, no)
Come to us who dance salsa (come)
Let him who sins cast a stone
We all have a belly (ah)
Anyway you failed me (oh)
Milan, they pay us well (well)
In Salento they pay us little
But money is not important (mmh, no)
See you at the usual place (okay)Emigrant, unfortunate, lazy
This is what I sign, full stop
I don’t like working (I don’t like it)
I stay in the square, na-na-na (na-na)
Then we toast with some disability moneyYou have to escape from here
They say, “You are born, you grow up and you die”
And how beautiful the sea is outside
Even the sky cries, take me to Mars
Because from hereI have to emigrate, brother (brother)
I don’t pose (okay)
I only drink good wine (ah-ah)
Do you know what grandma taught me?
(One) Various traditions
(Two) Zero betrayals
We ride on tractors (vroom)
We’re not trading (pow)
Eh-oh
In my country, illegal work is routine (illegal)
But you want to declare to give them back (ah)
It’s normal here
There are those who hope for something
What then is unknown (boh)Emigrant, unfortunate, lazy
This is what I sign, full stop
I don’t like working (I don’t like it)
I stay in the square, na-na-na (na-na)
Then we toast with some disability moneyYou have to escape from here
They say, “You are born, you grow up and you die”
And how beautiful the sea is outside
Even the sky cries, take me to Mars
Because from hereI have to emigrate, da-da-da
Away from the alligators, pa-pa-pa
They say, “you gotta go outside”
Never again will I stay on the sidelines, take me to Mars
Because from hereI have to emigrate, da-da-da
There are those who even have two or three jobs, da-da-da
They say you have to go outside, always outside
Dry land will be a meadow, like flowers
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