Who is Italy's Eurovision 2022 act? Meet Mahmood & Blanco
Host country Italy is being represented by hot favourites Mahmood & Blanco
After Italian rock band Måneskin stormed to victory at Eurovision 2021, the winning country has been busy planning how to top their success.
They unveiled plans to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin on Saturday 14th May, and have promised to deliver a night for all to remember.
That's clear from their entry for this year, as Italy has selected previous Eurovision favourite Mahmood, who came runner-up in 2019, alongside rising music star Blanco.
And the Eurovision duo appear to be a match made in heaven as there's already huge interest, with some saying Italy could perhaps scoop a consecutive historic win.
Read on to see what Italy has planned and how their act is already creating a huge buzz.
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Who is representing Italy at Eurovision 2022?
Name: Mahmood & Blanco
Ages: 29 and 19
Instagram: @mahmood and @blanchitobebe
Twitter: @Mahmood_Music
Eurovision fans will already know and love Mahmood after the familiar face came runner-up in 2019.
The 29-year-old R&B, hip hop artist, who comes from Milan and also has Egyptian heritage, first rose to fame when he took part in the sixth series of the Italian X Factor, as well as other notable music competitions.
But since his Eurovision appearance, the star has gone on to ride the wave of his success, producing many huge singles and albums.
This year, Mahmood will be joined on stage by relative newcomer Blanco, who started getting noticed after uploading his tracks to SoundCloud in 2020.
Blanco, who was born Riccardo Fabbriconi in Brescia, Lombardy turned his back on a career in football and hairdressing in order to follow his passion of music. It was a risk that paid off, as he's since scored four number-one singles.
The pair decided to team up after coming together during a chance meeting at the producer of their Eurovision song's Michelangelo's studio.
What is Italy's Eurovision 2022 song called?
'Brividi' is going to be a song that everyone remembers this year. It's already flown to the top of the Italian music charts and became the most listened to Italian song in a 24-hour period in history.
The track, which has also gone three times Platinum in their home country, has also racked up 64 million Spotify streams, 47 million views on YouTube and counting.
Plus, it's also created a buzz around the world, charting in countries as far-flung as Switzerland, Lithuania, Israel, Croatia and The Netherlands.
Where did Italy come in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest?
Italy was victorious last year and was crowned the winner thanks to a memorable show from rock band Måneskin.
This follows a very successful few years which have seen the host country storm the leaderboard, with half of their last ten entries scoring in the top five.
These include runners-up, Raphael Gualazzi with 'Madness of Love' in 2011 and Mahmood's 'Soldi' in 2019.
Could it be a second shot at Eurovision stardom for Mahmood & Blanco, who is already being touted as the ones to watch?
When is Eurovision 2022?
After their huge success, Italy decided to host The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final from Turin's Pala Olimpico Arena on Saturday 14th May 2022.
It promises to be a night the country will never forget, with viewers from around the world tuning in to see who bags the title this time around. UK fans can get their fix from BBC One.
The Eurovision Song contest 2022 will air on the BBC this May. Check out the full list of Eurovision winners and how many times the UK has won Eurovision here. If you're looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide.
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