L'essenziale

"L'essenziale" was written by Mengoni, Roberto Casalino, and Francesco De Benedittis,[1] and was produced by Michele Canova.[2] Casalino began composing the song in September 2011, in Fano of the Marche region of Italy. During a break in a writing session with other authors, Casalino started playing guitar and wrote a first version of the music and lyrics of the song.[3] Benedittis later contributed to the song, and Casalino recorded a first demo of "L'essenziale". Early in 2012, after hearing Casalino's recording, Mengoni started considering the song for his then-upcoming album. In an interview released to TGCOM, Mengoni revealed that he was not impressed by the song at first. Nonetheless, he decided to try to perform it.[4] In October 2012, Mengoni met Casalino, and they rewrote part of the song's music and lyrics. During this session, Mengoni's idea of the song changed and, according to him, "it became a second skin, an obsession".[4][5]

The concept of the song was initially inspired by Casalino's personal experience. He revealed that when he began writing the song, he was living a moment in which he had to make important decisions about his future, and had started thinking he should come back to the essential things of life, like the people he really loved and who really counted in his life. After writing down a note with the word "essenziale" (Italian for essential) on it, he composed the song.[5] In an interview released to the Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Mengoni described "L'essenziale" as "an Italian-style ballad in the tipping point between love and social issues".[6] He later explained that the song refers to all kind of relations, and that it is "about the necessity to go back to essentiality, to open to new emotions and to overcome the difficulties of these days", with the expression of "the urgency to free people from the superstructures and the general crisis".[7] Casalino also claimed that the song's lyrics unwillingly reflect the problems of the Italian society during the 2010s, "without the aim to teach anything to its listeners".[5]

The music video for "L'essenziale" was filmed in Milan and Brescia of Northern Italy, and was directed by Giuseppe La Spada.[8][9] La Spada also produced and edited the video for the song.[10] It was released to YouTube on 15 February 2013.[11] In the first part of the video, Mengoni plays the song at home on a piano, while during the second half, he performs the song underwater.[12] As explained by La Spada during an interview, the music video is a "sort of escape from the world we live in, a jailbreak made of pictures, musics at the piano, water. Because water is the fundamental element that leads us back to the principle of life."[13] A backstage "making-of" video was later released to Mengoni's YouTube channel on 28 March of that year.[9]

While promoting the single and launching #prontoacorrere, Mengoni performed the song several times. After singing it during the Sanremo Music Festival 2013, he performed an acoustic version of it during Fabio Fazio's TV show, Che tempo che fa in March 2013.[14] On 6 April of that year, Mengoni performed the song during the first episode of the talent show Amici di Maria De Filippi, for a duet with contestant Verdiana Zangaro.[15] That same month, during the last episode of the TV comedy show Zelig, Mengoni also dueted with comedian Giovanni Vernia in a parody of "L'essenziale".[16]

"L'essenziale" was also featured as the last song on the set list for Mengoni's tour of the same name, preceding the encore.[17] On 13 April 2013, he sang it during Eurovision in Concert, an event held in Amsterdam and preceding the Eurovision Song Contest 2013,[18] while on 11 May of that year, he performed it as part of Radio Italia Live, a concert featuring several Italian artists and organized by the broadcaster Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana in Piazza del Duomo, Milan.[19]

"L'essenziale" debuted at number one on the Italian FIMI Singles Chart during the week ending on 17 February 2013, four days after its release.[20] It held the top spot of the chart until mid April 2013, spending eight consecutive weeks at number one in Italy, before falling outside the top ten three weeks later.[21] On 21 February of that year, the single was certified gold by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana,[22] while it went multi-platinum by 2 April 2013, denoting domestic downloads exceeding 60,000 units.[23] As of December 2014, the single has been certified quadruple platinum in Italy, denoting 120,000 shipments.[24] "L'essenziale" later became the best selling-single in Italy during the first six months of 2013 and the third best-selling single of the year, behind "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams, and Avicii's "Wake Me Up".[25][26][27] The song also reached the top spot of the Italian Nielsen Music airplay chart for two consecutive weeks.[28][29]

"L'essenziale" further charted within the top 40 in Switzerland, and it charted on the Belgian Ultratip charts for both Wallonia and Flanders.[30][31][32] After being performed during the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, it debuted at number 44 on the Spanish Singles Chart and number 69 on the Dutch Single Top 100.[33][34] In February 2014, a Spanish-language version of the song, titled "Incomparable", was released as a digital single,[35] peaking at number 14 in Italy.[36]

• Digital download[52]

1. "L'essenziale" – 3:41

• Digital download (Spanish-language version)[53]

1. "Incomparable" – 3:37

Credits adapted from #prontoacorrere's liner notes.[54]