Six years after sultry songstress Ira Losco released her last studio album, she came back with a bang last night at the launch of The Fire.
I started to write songs like pastizzi
An exclusive crowd of around 400 were at Villa Bologna in Attard to see the showcase of her fourth, long-awaited studio offering.
A national treasure since she was runner-up in 2002’s Eurovision Song Contest, Ms Losco told The Times she had a spell of around two years when her “inspiration ran out”.
“I had really enjoyed my career up to that point. But I needed to rejuvenate myself.”
Luckily for her fans, when it came time to write her latest album, everything clicked into place.
“I started to write songs like pastizzi,” she laughed.
Many of today’s music-loving teens won’t remember the 2002 Eurovision, when Ms Losco was just 12 points away from clinching a first ever victory for Malta. Does she feel she has anything to prove to new audiences?
“I wanted to please myself first and foremost with this album. Not in a selfish way but in an artistic way. I wanted to be happy with it, and I am. It’s very varied and there are songs that everyone will like.”
Crooning doctor Gianluca Bezzina will be carrying the hopes of Malta in his microphone this year – does Ms Losco think his song Tomorrow has a chance?
“Well it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. But I really like him. And the band looks really good on stage. At first I didn’t notice the song. Then I heard it the following day and thought it was really sweet.”
When it comes to the finals, the only thing Ms Losco can predict with any certainty is that the result will be difficult to predict.
“If you have a dance tune, and you are competing against 24 other dance tunes, the chances are you will be forgotten in the morning, unless you are terrible or look ravishing on stage.”
Talking of which, Ms Losco has been known as something of a pin-up throughout her career. She blushes slightly at the mention of this.
“I don’t talk about myself like that. It’s not that I don’t feel comfortable with the idea; it’s just that it’s a lot of pressure.”
Eurovision is not the only contest Ms Losco has been following – she expressed hope that Nationalists and Labourites will work together for the good of the country now the election is over.
“If they work together maybe more will get done, rather than acting like children. There is so much to do and not enough people to do it. Then power gets into it, everyone sees the euro signs...”
So what issues would Ms Losco like the parties to have prioritised?
“I would like to see stricter laws against animal cruelty, and a change in priorities about certain crimes.
“I would also like to see fairer laws for same sex couples, with less talk about ‘them’ and more about ‘us’, because we’re equal.”