Sanremo: What to Expect on Night Two

We’ve had half a day to recuperate from the first night of Sanremo 2025, so in case you missed it, here’s a quick recap of last night and what to expect if you’re tuning in tonight.

Carlo Conti’s Sanremo

One of the big questions going in to this week was about what noticeable changes would be seen with a new artistic director at the helm. Some had groaned when the show’s end times for this week were announced, as they were closer to 2 am than midnight CET, at which time Carlo Conti once said he could end the show. The show ended about twenty minutes earlier than scheduled, with The Kolors (the twenty-ninth performance of the night) sandwiched between two five minute ad breaks, because the show was running so early, efficiently, (and joylessly) that all of the allotted advertising time wasn’t used up as scheduled. The show as scripted could have ended earlier, but if it’s going to be stretched out to a similar end time as recent years, then it needs the warmth and silliness that some of the interval skits brough to the proceedings. Whereas past years have felt exhausting due to the sheer volume of content, this Sanremo feels a little thinner, less show stretched over the same timeframe.

New Proposals

Tonight is the penultimate round of New Proposals, and we now know that the head-to-head battle line-up. To open the evening, Alex Wyse will face-off against Vale LP e Lil Jolie, while Settembre and Maria Tomba will be the second pair to compete. This appears to be in keeping with the announced “seeding” that was used to determine previous rounds, as the most-streamed song is facing off against the least-streamed song, which would be the 1 and 4 seeds facing off.

Earlier, it appeared as though tonight’s battles were going to be gendered, assuring one male and one female act to reach the NP final. This scheduling change seems to assure that the final tomorrow will be Alex Wyse against Settembre, but with two-thirds of the scoring coming from juries (34% viewer vote, 33% press/TV/web jury, 33% radio jury) it’s possible that Vale LP e Lil Jolie could overcome Alex’s fan base. Their song is co-written by Madame, who also had a co-write on last year’s Sanremo winner, “La Noia,” which gives it some credentials that the juries might appreciate. I cannot conceive of a world in which Maria Tomba can beat any of these three songs, least of all “Vertebre,” but we’ll all know for sure about 45 minutes into tonight’s festivities.

Regardless of the outcome, all 4 finalists will be going on a Sanremo Giovani world tour, taking them to Montreal, Toronto, Miami, New York and Chicago in early May, which is a good indication that even if the winner of the Bigs chooses not to go to Eurovision, the winner of NP will not be the next act approached by RAI.

Special Guests

Damiano David is joining the show for two songs tonight, one immediately following the NP section and one later in the evening. BigMama is also scheduled for the Suzuki Stage performance. Some of the other guests include Olympians and the casts of film productions.

Tonight’s Lineup

Tonight’s scores are determined by a 50/50 televote/radio jury vote, and once again, only the top 5 songs of the night will be named, in random order. This will begin to give us a clearer picture of the standings than last night’s scores alone, with 4 of last night’s top 5 in the line-up. Earone provides real time charts, showing each song’s current radio play, which may give us some clues as to how that jury may vote, the same way the press previews telegraphed last night’s top 5. Of tonight’s acts, at noon EST on Wednesday, Giorgia has the most radio play, with Coma_Cose first overall.

How to Watch?

You can watch all five nights of Sanremo through RAIplay. If you’re worried because that site has been geoblocked for you in the past, know that those restrictions are lifted during Sanremo live shows. The shows are scheduled to begin at 8:40 PM CET/2:40 PM EST and end between 1:30 and 2:00 AM CET/7:30 and 8 PM EST.