“Soldi” (money) is Mahmood's song about his father, who left the family and, the song suggests, cared more about money than about his son. Memories from childhood in the suburbs of Milan come back in short flashes — the father who asked how things were going only when he wanted something.
It won the Sanremo Festival in 2019 and came second at Eurovision that year. Mahmood, born in Milan to an Italian mother and an Egyptian father, slips a line in Arabic into the song — the father calling his son.
The Italian is modern and urban, with short phrases over a minimal beat and famous hand claps. Learn the money words — soldi, and the Milan slang around them — and you'll follow the story.