Released in October 1992, Cosa Succederà alla Ragazza marks the penultimate chapter in Lucio Battisti's discography and one of his most uncompromising ventures into electronic soundscapes. Produced by Andy Duncan and recorded at Sarm West Studios in London, the album employs minimal personnel, with only Lyndon Connah on keyboards and programming and Spike Edney on guitar. This reduced crew allows Battisti to channel a taut, almost mechanical rhythmic focus that unspools across the record with relentless precision. The album’s structure invites listeners to piece together a conceptual journey centered on the “ragazza,” a cipher around whom Pasquale Panella constructs word-labyrinths full of paradox, reference, and sly humor. Once again, Battisti’s role as vocalist is less that of storyteller and more a vehicle for color and phrasing, his lines weaving through layers of sequenced and synthesized instrumentation. Panella’s lyrics, more concerned here than ever with the sound of language, dance atop Battisti’s metronomic grooves; meaning is provisional, systems of signification are set in motion only to dissolve, and the listener is left to discover coherence within the flux.
The eight tracks, from the title cut through the vibrant La metro eccetera and the melodic I sacchi della posta, present a dynamic range: some evoke dub through insistent basslines and rotary-speaker organ effects, others flirt with the melodic immediacy of Battisti’s early years - always filtered, however, through a prism of sonic abstraction and formal invention. The album’s white cover, with the handwritten acronym C.S.A.R., mirrors its elusive content: silent, allusive, and inviting interpretation. Although its commercial impact was less than earlier efforts, peaking at number five and staying thirteen weeks in Italy’s charts, Cosa Succederà alla Ragazza stands as a testament to Battisti’s willingness to push the Italian song forward, refusing nostalgia in favor of continually novel approaches. The album’s rhythmic innovations and cryptic, collage-like texts ensure it remains a unique contribution: reflective, experimental, and constantly in dialogue with both past and future of Italian pop.
