Alessandro Mahmoud, known professionally as Mahmood (born 12 September 1992), is an Italian singer.
Mahmood came to prominence on the sixth season of Italy's X Factor in 2012, originally not making the cut for Simona Ventura's Boys category, but later earning a spot in the live shows as a wildcard contestant. He ultimately finished sixth.
In 2016, he competed in the Nuove Propostenote section of Sanremo with the song "Dimentica,"note passing the first round of competition and finishing fourth behind fellow future Sanremo winners and hitmakers Francesco Gabbani and Ermal Meta.
In December 2018, he returned to Sanremo in the 'Giovani' competition, a reworking of the Nuove Proposte section he had previously enterednote , and emerged as one of two winners alongside fellow competitor Einar. His victory guaranteed him a spot in the main show in February 2019, which he also went on to win. Because of his success at Sanremo, Mahmood went on to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, with his winning entry "Soldi", ultimately placing as runner-up.
He won at Sanremo again in 2022 with the song "Brividi"note , together with Riccardo Fabbriconi, a.k.a Blanco. Likewise, the duo represented Italy once again at Eurovision 2022, this time on home soil in Turin and placing 6th on the final scoreboard. Mahmood once again competed in Sanremo as a soloist for the festival's 2024 edition with the song "Tuta gold"note , ultimately placing 6th..
Discography:
- Gioventù bruciata note (2019)
- Ghettolimponote (2021)
- Nei letti degli altrinote (2024)
Selected filmography:
- The X Factor (2012) as himself
- Eurovision Song Contest (2019, 2022) as himself
- The Little Mermaid (2023) as Sebastian (Italian dub)
Mahmood's work provides examples of:
- But Not Too Foreign: Half-Egyptian on his father's side.
- Dark Horse Victory: At Sanremo, winning against fan-favourite Ultimo. While Mahmood only got 14% of the public votes (in contrast to Ultimo's 48%), his song "Soldi" won thanks to Sanremo's juries. Subverted at Eurovision, where he was one of the favourites and ended up second, as expected in the betting odds, and got more points from the public than the juries.
- Disappeared Dad: The subject of "Soldi". It's autobiographical.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: He sings a couple of lines in Arabic in the bridge of "Soldi", representing what his dad would tell him when he was a little kid.
- Homoerotic Subtext:
- The video for "Barrio" shows a couple of long-lost (male) friends reuniting, set to an unambiguous love song.
- "Brividi", his collaborative single with Blanco for Sanremo 2022, takes it to the next level: the two not only sing the song together naked in the shower in the music video, they also hugged each other in the live performance at the festival.
- Love Hurts: A recurring theme in his music, with "Inuyasha", "Asia Occidente" and "Barrio" being good examples.
- Money Song: "Soldi" literally translates to "money" in English, and the song is tangentially about being overly concerned with it.
- One of Us: A proud Pokémon fan, he sports a Rayquaza t-shirt in full view on the cover of Gioventù bruciata. Not only that, one of the singles for Ghettolimpo is literally named "Inuyasha".
- Punny Name: His stage name is a combination of his surname and the phrase "My mood".
- Shout-Out: Gioventù bruciata is also the Italian title of Rebel Without a Cause.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: "Barrio", his first post-Eurovision single, has the narrator pining for a childhood friend who has moved after a nasty argument, but still really loves her deep down and wishes he could express his feelings for her.
