Damiano David stopped by the Genius office to break down his single “Born With A Broken Heart.”
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00:00I decided to go by my full name as a solo artist because as the singer of the band,
00:05I've always been referred to as Damiano from Måneskin.
00:09Of course, it makes total sense, but on the long run, I started feeling like my last name,
00:15my family name, got stolen.
00:17It's kind of a way for me to reclaim it, and also, it sounds good, Damiano David, I mean.
00:31This song was one of the first in the process of the album, and I was still in a very different
00:37mental space compared to the one I am today.
00:40I was in the process of healing from, I wouldn't say toxic, but like wrong relationship that
00:48I had in that moment, and that really made me realize how fragile I actually was and
00:54how much I was relying on external approval to feel validated and stuff.
00:59When I met the person that today is my partner, and everything was so beautiful and perfect
01:05and loving, but at the same time, I was so scared of my own ability of judging people,
01:11and I was trying to find, I don't know, the bad behind the curtain, you know, stuff like
01:16that, and thank God there was nothing bad to find.
01:30Oh no, but I end up in the same damn place again, hoping I could be different, but I'd
01:42be playing pretend.
01:44In the last two years, I've been through a lot of change.
01:49I ended a very long relationship, I started another one, it was wrong, and so I really
01:56felt like everything I touched was rotting in that moment, and I was like cursed, and
02:03so I think it came automatic for me to just say it out loud, first sentence, so just to
02:09make it clear, you know?
02:26I saw people around me expecting certain things from me, and enjoying certain things, and
02:41I was being exactly what they wanted, and I was having the same experiences, going to
02:46the same parties, meeting the same people, and I was like, why do I not feel good about it?
02:52I want to feel the same as you, for me, it's again related to my girlfriend, because I
02:56was seeing her being so sure of who she is, and not needing that external validation.
03:01I was like, oh, this is cool, this is doable, and maybe there's someone that feels like me.
03:20When I'm doing this type of changes in the melodies, I don't really think about it, it
03:24really comes natural, it's like my brain wants to go there.
03:28Like I have the melody, I have the lyrics, but then I don't think about it too much,
03:33I just go to the mic, and I sing it in, and it's like, hmm, this doesn't feel right.
03:38And then you listen back, you have a different feeling, and you're like, oh, I could have
03:42belted more here, I could push more here, I could be softer here, but that comes later.
03:47I fight a lot about semi-tones, because I'm like, my body doesn't naturally go there,
03:53my brain doesn't want to go to that note, it wants to go there.
04:14In that moment, my biggest fear was not being able to read people, and read the good and
04:22the bad in people.
04:24That sentiment was kind of a feeling of guilt towards my girlfriend, because in that moment,
04:32we were not together yet, and she was so open, and so patient, and so understanding to me,
04:38and I was trying so hard to not make her fall in love, because I was like, I'm not ready,
04:44I'm gonna be bad to this person, I don't want to break her heart.
04:48I am the problem, of course it's not her, it's me, the one who's broken, who's like
04:52defected, and that's where the line, baby you can fix me, I was born with a broken heart,
04:58comes from.
05:23Okay, this is my favorite line, because it's just a funny story.
05:29I was scrolling on Instagram, and I saw this meme of this cactus, and this balloon, and
05:36both had super sad faces, because they wanted to be together, but they couldn't.
05:40I thought it was so cute, and so I came into the room, and I was like, okay, okay, I want
05:45to put this in the song, I want to put this in the song, it makes sense, it makes sense,
05:48and they were like, are you sure, and I was like, it makes sense, it makes sense, you
05:51get it, you get it, no, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I guess I get it.
05:55Further on, it became like the iconic thing of the song, I think it's just so cute, and
06:00innocent, and it's like, if a kid was explaining that feeling, and I think that sometimes reaching
06:07back to our inner kid to explain feelings, and really go on the baseline of what we feel,
06:12it's actually important, it's actually good.
06:21One rule I have in music is, only do a bridge if it's the best part of the song.
06:32If it's a filler, no.
06:34We got to that part, and everything was like, how can we beat the hook?
06:40And so I went just for the craziest thing that came to my mind, this scale, in my head
06:47I was thinking, that's too crazy, everyone's gonna hate it.
06:50And the room went like, that's sick, okay, let's do it.
07:09I think, lyrically, also looking back, would have been a good idea to change the last part
07:15for a maybe, and make it, but maybe you can fix me.
07:20For me, it's not really thought, and it's not about making a version, and then making
07:25a better version, it's like, everything has to be very instinctive and authentic, and
07:29in that moment, I didn't feel like that.
07:32So I don't feel like lying in songs, and songs are like Polaroids of a moment, it's like
07:37a still, it can change.
07:39And I think that the song has to respect the feeling of the moment, so in that moment,
07:44that's how I was feeling.
07:46Maybe live I'm gonna sing it differently.
07:50I think sometimes the fact of not being first language, like English modern language, helps
07:56me because I put together sentences, not really translating from Italian, because thank God
08:02I stopped doing that, but like, in the first way that they make sense to me, and so a lot
08:06of times songwriters are like, that's cool, because I would have never said it that way,
08:11but in this way it's more direct.
08:12Sometimes it's like I talk like a kid.
08:14What if I said I'm trying to save your love from dying, it's like a very simple choice
08:19of words, but then they create this very intense feeling, and when you layer it on
08:25this very up-tempo music, it plays this kind of brain fuck that in my head is very satisfying
08:32and really helps me to express the range of emotion, because of course I went through
08:37a lot of sadness and healing and da-da-da, but also this brought me so much joy, and
08:42so like this duality, it's very human and very personal for me.