Occidentali's Karma

According to Francesco Gabbani, the lyrics are an irony over the inhabitants of Western countries, who believe that they can adapt Eastern culture to themselves and endow it with Western features. The song mentions elements of Indian religions - Buddha and nirvana , as well as the theory of evolution and the origin of man from a monkey, scooped up by the singer from the book “The Naked Monkey ” by British zoologist Desmond Morris ^[2] . In an interview with La Repubblica, Desmond Morris spoke well of a "clear and bizarre reference to a theory" described by himself, and of "accuracy and grace of the text", comparing it with the work of Bob Dylan and John Lennon ; Morris also added that he wishes Gabbani victory at Eurovision ^[3] . At the beginning of the song there is a reference to the work of William Shakespeare " Hamlet " ^[4] . The use of the apostrophe in the title and refrain of the song is a continuation of the criticism of the English language Italianization ; originally the name of the song was in Latin - " Occidentalis Karma " ^{[5] [6]} . For the performance at Eurovision, the song had to be changed since the duration of the song at the contest should not exceed three minutes, the mention of the Chanel trademark was also removed from the text ^[7] .

The video clip for the song was shot by Gabriele Luchetti. On February 12, the video clip on Vevo reached 4353802 views, thereby setting a record for the number of views of Italian video in one day on this service. ^[8] . During the broadcast of the television program Standing Ovation, Francesco Gabbani announced that he will continue to perform the song in Italian at Eurovision ^[9] . On April 24th, the video clip on Vevo reached one hundred million views, becoming the first Eurovision song to cross that threshold.

On December 11, 2016, it was announced that Francesco Gabbani would perform in the campioni section (“champions”) at the 2017 San Remo Festival. ^[10] Gabbani's premiere performance with the song “Occidentali's Karma” took place on February 8th ^[11] . The choreographer Filippo Ranaldi participated in it, staging a dance in a monkey costume, reflecting the theme of the song and referring to the book “The Naked Monkey” ^[12] . On February 11, it was announced that Gabbani became the winner of the festival and received the right to represent the country at Eurovision 2017 ^{[13] [14]} .

The song debuted on the first line of the Italian hit parade FIMI Top Digital, for the first week following the results of sales, the single reached the status of Golden, becoming the fastest-selling single in Italy ^{[17] [18]} .