Before turning fifty, Laura Pausini already held countless records: she was the most awarded italian artist in the world (1 Grammy, 4 Latin Grammys, 1 Golden Globe, 1 Oscar nomination, Person of the Year 2023 of the Latin Recording Academy), the most followed on Spotify with 8 million monthly listeners and the one that sold the most tickets on its tours. But now, with just half a century passed, it has achieved a new milestone by exceeding 5 billion views on all digital platforms, becoming the most listened to Italian song in the history of streaming. More than enough reason to meet her again, review her career and chat about life and the future that awaits us, for her and for all of us.
How does it feel to reach 5 billion views, in this industry where numbers are increasingly important?
Damn! (laughs) The numbers clearly help you achieve new goals, they encourage you, and now that digital platforms are the only real source of money for record labels, even more so. For those of us who started in the nineties, when physical records were sold, it has taken us a bit to get used to digital. We neither understood it nor accepted it at times. But today, these numbers, being a woman my age… I repeat: she is a motherfucker! Because if you don’t sell, they forget about you.
A few days ago I spoke with Suzanne Vega, and she told me that she is very happy because there are now many more women at the top of the sales charts than there were thirty or forty years ago.
I sang his song ‘Luka’ in the piano bar with my father when I was a teenager. Suzanne is absolutely right, it is true that there are more women. In Italy, when I started, the last young woman who had had any success in music had come out twenty years before me. And when I won San Remo, a man who also competed, but lost, signed with the same record company but his contract was better. I took 4 percent of royalties, and he took 8 percent. I asked why this was so, and was told that the reason was that men always sold more records. That made me a little angry, but since I know how to adapt to situations, what I did was work harder to change it. When I started to have great successes, I felt even more responsibility to continue doing better and better, because otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to have what I have. Then many more successful singers appeared in different countries, and since the nineties the situation has totally changed.
There are more women at the top, but when they get older, are they treated the same as men? You have admitted that you do not like how your body is changing at fifty, which honors you because such statements are not often heard from celebrities…
I would like to tell you no, because I see a bit of a cultural change with that. But as the years go by, I see that there are still differences. A singer of fifty can continue being as he has always been, but a woman is asked to take care of herself, to be a chameleon and to change… Sometimes they ask me if I am not going to renew myself, if I am not going to get more sexy… And the changes I make, I will only make them if they feel real. Not because of how they see me as a character.
In December he will pass through Spain again, visiting Malaga and Pamplona. Is it the best tour of your life?
Definitely yes, I’m selling more tickets than ever and filling more stadiums than ever. I have never had such good numbers.
Laura Pausini with her daughter Paola
abc
Would you like to continue singing at seventy, eighty years old? Or are you considering retiring at some point to enjoy life and family?
During the pandemic I had to forcibly retire, and at first I felt that it was good to stay home more to enjoy family. But after three months he wanted to set the house on fire (laughs). I think I will never use the word ‘retirement’. Even though I’m very old, I will always record songs in my home studio.
What do you think of concerts with holograms, with avatars?
It may be fine to use them as a complement to a concert by a living singer, but when they are used with artists who have already died, I find it disturbing. I have a will in which I change things as the years go by, and I had not written anything about this but I am going to add one thing: I am going to prohibit concerts from being held with avatars of me when I am not there. Thanks for the question, because I’m just going to see my lawyer next week (laughs).
When you think about your daughter’s future, what worries you most?
What will be his job, because I see that artificial intelligence is going to eliminate many jobs, and he asked me what he can do and if he can make a living from it. I read a lot about this subject, and it can be a great help on a medical level, for example. But in the artistic world it is dangerous and artists should unite to demand regulation at an international level.
