Straight after his designation as the Italian representative at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, Francesco Gabbani earned the love and respect of Eurofans all over the world. “Occidentali’s Karma” has already emerged as one of the songs to watch in Kiev. But the song many of you are hearing these days may be different from the one that will eventually appear at Eurovision.

First of all, the Italian entry needs to be cut down. The original version lasts 3 minutes and 37 seconds, which is, of course, 37 seconds longer than the EBU allows.

Then there is the problem of the lyrics. Its interesting mix of scientific and philosophical references might be lost on European viewers if the song stays entirely in Italian. Everyone is going crazy for the dancing ape next to Francesco on stage, but only those who understand Italian understand why he’s there.

And it’s now clear that the singer’s team is exploring ways to address this.

Luca Chiaravalli — author and producer of the song and the orchestra conductor at Sanremo — revealed the news to Soundsblog yesterday. He said:

“We will make some changes and insert some parts in English because the audience could not understand the meaning of the lyrics all the way. The ape put in that way might seem silly. Our goal is to make the meaning of the song understandable, even to those unfamiliar with our language”.

Fans petition for the lyrics to stay in Italian

As ever fans have had strong reactions, and a petition has already appeared on change.org.

Dear @frankgabbani: Please keep the lyrics of your amazing #Eurovision song in Italian. Just show the evolution of apes on your LED. ??????????????????? pic.twitter.com/TYoyO7hbCy — William Lee Adams (@willyleeadams) February 16, 2017

In the meantime the song, which won Sanremo 2017, has surpassed 12 million views on YouTube and 1 million streams on Spotify, hitting #3 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50.

It also gained the attention of several international media including France’s Le Figaro.

Can you feel the hype?

Would you like to hear a bilingual version of the song in Kiev or would you prefer it all in Italian?

Share your thoughts below!