No prophet in his own country (but we're working on it on Spotify)

This year, Spotify told me something very simple: Ricky, your music is listened to mostly in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and France. Italy, with the exception of a few parochial exceptions in my beloved homeland of Padua, has decided to show up elegantly late, like a guest arriving after the party and asking if there's any cake left.

My first reaction was to laugh. Because, let's face it, "nemo propheta in patria" is a Latin maxim, but on Spotify it sounds better: no drama, just statistics that look at you and say, "Oh, it seems like they pay a little more attention to you abroad." No "they don't understand me," in fact: perhaps I'm the one who still hasn't fully grasped how the game works at home.

In Italy, music is often a mix of routine, familiar faces, and choruses crafted for Saturday night karaoke. It's not a conspiracy against musicians, it's an ecosystem: radio stations that always play the same ones, playlists that loop, talent shows that seem like the only gateway to the sacred temple of the 4/4 chorus. If you make an eight-minute prog-metal song that goes against the algorithm, it's only natural that the system will look at you like someone bringing a book to a pool party.

Abroad, they might not be able to pronounce your last name, but if they like what they hear, they'll click "follow" and go, without asking for your artistic resume of the last ten years. It's less romantic, more direct: they listen to you, decide, move on or stay. No mythology of the "misunderstood genius," just a banal "I like this piece, I'll save it," which, in the end, is the most honest thing in the world.

So no, this isn't a lamenting post. It's more of an amused observation: my music took a virtual plane to New York, London, and Berlin quicker than a regional train from Milan to Padua. When in doubt, I continue to write, perform, and publish. If Italy wants to join us, it knows where to find us: we're there, among the world's headphones, doing what we do best. The rest, as always, is up to those who press play.