Genesi is the debut studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Gaia, released by Sony Music Italy on 20 March 2020.[1][2] On 22 May 2020 the project was reissued in a double album, Nuova Genesi.[3][4]
The album, which featured ten song in Italian and Portuguese, peaked at number three on the Italian Albums Chart and was certified gold by FIMI.[5][6] The album was promoted by the singles "Chega" and "Coco Chanel".
Background and composition
After the publication of her debout EPNew Dawns through Sony Music Italy, in 2019 Gaia was cast in the nineteenth edition of the talent show Amici di Maria De Filippi, becoming the winner of the edition in May 2020.[7][8] During the TV program she wrote and produced severals songs, including "Chega", "Coco Chanel" and "Fucsia".[9]
In an interview with Vanity Fair Italia the singer shared about her desire to keep both the Italian and Brazilian languages in the songs lyrics in order to maintain her cultural identity in the album.[10][11] In an interview with Rockol Gaia also explained the meaning of Genesi and the music and sound productions:[12]
"[This album] is my rebirth, the result of many hours of study and work. I turned my different identities into music. This is because I wanted a few things that I could defend and that reflected me. Inside there is electronic music, there is bossanova, there are the influences that come from my Brazilian origins and also a treatment of the Italian language. I was not at all sure I wanted to sing in Italian, I always experienced it as a kind of “you have to do it because we are in Italy.” Then slowly, even with the help of great authors like Antonio Di Martino, I realized that it was actually what I really wanted. And I freed myself."
Critic reception
Mattia Marzi of Rockol compared the album to Francesca Michielin's album di20 and, praising the "minimal electronics, South American music echoes and acoustic guitars that squeeze between synths and keyboards", calling it "an interesting proposition and not at all trivia".[13]
The album debouted at number five on the Italian Albums Chart.[14] With the reiussed of the album in May 2020, Nuova Genesi peaked at number three on the chart, being certificed god by FIMI in November 2020.[15]
