Songs to listen to at least once in a lifetime according to Venerus and Rbsn

When one engages in selecting the talent of others - which is the job that gallery owners, deejays, booksellers, etc. do - a strong personalisation of the choice and some trust and sharing between the chooser and the recipient of the choice is essential,' writes Luca Sofri in his new book Playlist (Altrecose, 2025). In an era in which all music is available everywhere and at all times, the playlist has become our main orientation tool: a form of personal narrative that coexists, not without friction, with the logic of the algorithm. But what happens when it is those who write and inhabit music every day who choose it? To understand what sounds might accompany us along this 2026 that has just begun, we asked two Italian artists with different sensibilities and profiles - Venerus and Rbsn - to build their own personal playlist, capable of speaking to the listener with curiosity, attention and taste.

'I have put together a selection of artists who somehow, for me, influence the international sound, from above and below,' Venerus explains. Born in Milan in 1992 and musically trained in London, Andrea Venerus is one of the most recognisable authors of the contemporary Italian scene. Over time, he has made the exploration of less-travelled territories a constant feature of his work, constructing a language that moves through stratifications, openings and contaminations. After Magica Musica (2021) and Il Segreto (2023), at the end of 2025 he inaugurated a new chapter with Speriamo, an album that further broadens his expressive horizon and will be at the centre of the club tour, which will start in spring. This attitude is also expressed in his relationship with fashion: 'I like to start with my image, with the things I put on it. I like to find ways of wearing things to open up new points of view, new languages. I love vintage, giving new life to objects that have already had a history with other people, and looking for things that potentially only I have, or talking to designers to make unique pieces for my concerts. With Francesco Risso I made some very special pieces when he was creative director of Marni, and now I treasure them in my studio in Milan,' he says. The playlist conceived by Venerus is a journey that moves between contemporary pop, underground territories and more personal references. The first one he mentions is Spanish star Rosalía, with the track Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti, from her latest album Lux (2025): 'In this historical period she is the artist who is pushing the barrier of the concept of pop and mainstream the furthest, with a truly revolutionary, original and experimental path'. We move on to England with Mind Loaded by Blood Orange (feat. Caroline Polachek), an author who "has educated the public to a light, yet contemplative sensibility" and then on to Norway with Easy by Smerz: "A duo that represents a very lively underground wave of the contemporary scene. With their latest record, they have found a more grunge, post-punk home. Very raw feminine energy, elegant and minimalist'. Instead, from Baltimore comes Nourished By Time with its Baby Baby, taken from The Passionate Ones (2025), an album that Venerus defines as 'mature and complete, personal, but contextualised to a soundscape that has travelled through time'. The gaze then shifts to the instrumental dimension of harpist Nala Sinephro (Continuum 1), interpreter of a jazz spiritual reinterpreted in a very contemporary way. It's a different kind of music with DtMF by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny: 'I'm happy that a leading artist in the Latin scene has expressed himself with this softness and freedom in his latest album: it is positive music that welcomes the listener and gives him hope'. With Flimsier by Britain's King Krule, the playlist becomes more visceral: 'Pure personality, in the soundscapes, in the delivery, and especially in the live performances' and continues with Song of the Lake by his beloved Nick Cave, 'a flood of emotion, blood, life, energy'. Among the more personal references he mentions Sentire, a track made by Venerus together with Angelina Mango, 'an artist with a special energy', and Melo by Marco Castello, 'a brother, an artist and a unique musician. Music flows through him, and fortunately he is able to bring it out by releasing free and special songs'.

The Sicilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marco Castello is also among the protagonists of Rbsn's selection, this time with the song Editto dal Sottoscoglio: 'Marco is a sort of cultural mediator, capable of rendering a profoundly Italian imagery universal,' he explains. This is the only overlap, if one can call it that: the second playlist moves in different, but equally stimulating directions.

Allo specchio, Rbsn, nome d’arte di Alessandro Rebesani. ©Federico Zanghì

Born in 1996, Roman, trained between a jazz conservatory and the English scene, Rbsn - Alessandro Rebesani's stage name - is one of the Italian producers most attentive to an idea of music as an open and constantly changing language. After Stranger Days (2022), in November 2025 he released Here, an album that expands his sonic universe by mixing folk, rock, electronics and psychedelic suggestions, confirming an international vocation (he sings in English). As with Venerus, fashion is an integral part of Rbsn's creative process: 'It is the glue between what you want to be and what you are,' he says, speaking of an intimate and individual relationship with the clothes he wears. For Stranger Days he collaborated with the young designer MANI (Lorena Tiberi), and for the cover of Here with fashion photographer Edoardo Cafasso; among the garments he is most attached to is a pair of Tricker's by Junya Watanabe from the early 2000s. So his playlist reflects this same inclination: next to names from the contemporary scene, Rbsn invites you to catch up on some historical tracks, drawing a direct line between past and present. Alongside Castello, Turin-based singer-songwriter Andrea Laszlo De Simone appears with Immensity, from his eponymous EP from 2020: "He is the only artist who made me think that Italian could still be a language of poetic research. Andrea (who recently released his new album Una Lunghissima Ombra, ndr) is a timeless artist of unparalleled elegance. I learnt a lot from him, mainly how to preserve one's artistic path'. Among the most recent pieces is Are You Looking Up by American singer-songwriter Mk.gee, who also created the soundtrack for Jil Sander's Fall/Winter 2024 fashion show: 'Technically he's very strong. He has a way of writing and recording his music that, as far as I'm concerned, has created a before and an after'. It changes course completely with Spectacle of Ritual by Kali Malone, composer and organist born in Denver and settled in Stockholm (on 4 February she will perform in the Church of S. Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa, Milan, for a performance curated by the Fondazione Prada): "A piece that lasts almost ten minutes, certainly unconventional, one of the most powerful compositions I have ever heard". The selection then consciously looks back to those 'who knew what they wanted from music and dug in to get it': It's alright, Ma by Bob Dylan, "one of his least quoted, but most surprising tracks", then The Root by neo-soul pioneer D'Angelo (recently deceased) from the Voodoo album (2000), to Jimi Hendrix's Third Stone from the Sun ("A piece every guitarist should know, a psychedelic expression of those years almost bordering on jazz") and In Time by Sly & The Family Stone. Closing Work Song by Hozier, a song from his teenage years that taught him 'how to use his voice'. An Rbsn song? "The Bear, from Here: a piece that looks at soul and gospel and sums up my way of understanding music as a vocation, made up of clear-cut choices and uncompromising identity".