Stella stai

"Stella stai"
Single by Umberto Tozzi
from the album Tozzi
B-side"Gabbie"
Released1980
GenrePop rock
Length6:45
LabelCGD
Songwriter(s)Umberto Tozzi, Giancarlo Bigazzi
Umberto Tozzi singles chronology
"Gloria"
(1979) 		"Stella stai"
(1980) 		"Dimmi di no"
(1980)
Audio
"Stella stai" on YouTube

"Stella stai" (lit. 'Star, stay') is a 1980 song composed by Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi and performed by Tozzi.

Background

The song is the leading single of the 1980 album Tozzi. It is characterised by the frenetic series of on-beat cadences and by the use of truncated rhymes.[1] Its style has been described as heavily influenced by disco, with strong rock overtones.[2] Its ambiguous lyrics have been described as a "linguistic delirium"[1] and have been variously interpreted.[3]

The song has been included in the soundtrack of several films, notably Spider-Man: Far From Home and The Guest Room.[4][5]

Other versions

The boy band Menudo and later Luis Fonsi covered the song in Spanish-language, with the title "Claridad" and with lyrics adapted by Óscar Gómez Díaz.[6][7] Thelma Houston recorded an English-language version of the song with the title "Shining Star".[8] The song was also covered in Czech by Michal David with the title "Třetí Galaxie".[9]

In 2019–20, Mina performed the song for a series of TIM commercials.[10][11]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Stella stai"6:45
2."Gabbie"6:05

Charts

Chart (1980) Peak position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[12] 18
Italy (Musica e dischi)[13] 3
Spain (AFYVE)[14] 3
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 3
West Germany (Media Control)[16] 61

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[17]
sales from 2009 		Gold 50,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b Zuliani, Luca (2009). Poesia e versi per musica: l'evoluzione dei metri italiani (in Italian). Il mulino. p. 54. ISBN 978-88-15-13461-5.
  2. ^ Bufalini, Andrea Angeli; Savastano, Giovanni (20 September 2019). La Storia della Disco Music (in Italian). Hoepli. ISBN 978-88-203-8990-1.
  3. ^ Molteni, Ferdinando (18 April 2023). L'anello di Bindi: Canzoni e cultura omosessuale in Italia dal 1960 a oggi (in Italian). Vololibero. ISBN 978-88-32085-43-3.
  4. ^ Finos, Arianna (20 June 2019). "'Spider-Man: Far from Home', Peter Parker lotta anche in vacanza . Il regista: "Non abbiamo perso l'ironia"". la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  5. ^ Bartucca, Elisabetta (4 January 2021). "La stanza, la recensione: Thriller-horror di una famiglia alla deriva". Movieplayer.it (in Italian). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  6. ^ "Este es el verdadero origen de la canción "Claridad" de Menudo". El Universo (in Spanish). 1 June 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  7. ^ Riera, Daniel (21 October 2020). "La sorprendente historia de "Claridad", el hitazo de Menudo: el relato de uno de sus autores". Big Bang! News (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  8. ^ Perboni, Elia (18 May 1994). "Canzoni italiane versione " disco "". Corriere della Sera. p. 51.
  9. ^ Redazione (4 April 2020). "Tutte le volte che le canzoni di Umberto Tozzi sono finite in un film internazionale". HEYJUDE Magazine (in Italian). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  10. ^ Suriani, Samantha (11 December 2019). "Pubblicità TIM con Amadeus: di chi è la canzone cantata da Mina?". Bellacanzone (in Italian). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  11. ^ ""Scivola, scivola, scivola, scivola". Avete presente il noto jingle? Ecco da dove arriva (e quali sono le ragioni che hanno spinto a sceglierlo per uno spot)". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 17 February 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  12. ^ "UMBERTO TOZZI – STELLA STAI". austriancharts.at.
  13. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 29 May 2023. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Stella stai".
  14. ^ "Hits of the World" (PDF). Billboard. 2 August 1980.
  15. ^ "Umberto Tozzi – Stella stai". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Umberto Tozzi - Stella stai - Single". Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Italian single certifications – Umberto Tozzi – Stella stai" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved September 23, 2024. Select "2024" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Stella stai" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".