L'amore è solo uno
Welcome to another post that is a collection of various Maneskin thoughts about specific Maneskin photos/videos! I know literally no one asked for this but this band continues to be my comfort during a trying time, so. Here we are!
In this post: Is There Hope For Straight Men?, piss kink, and thoughts on gen z relationships with social media.
1.
I will never get tired of talking about the fascinating process of watching a famous straight dude become aware of his enormous privilege especially in relation to women but also in relation to other marginalized groups, and how Damiano is a fascinating example of this.
I stumbled on two videos that PERFECTLY encapsulated this!
First, here's this compilation of various random/cute Damiano and Thomas moments:
So aside from having various hilarious/cringy stuff in there (I just need to erase from my brain that people actually legit called Thomas "cobra" when he was 16-17 because he got a cobra tattoo, that is the most ridiculous shit that's ever existed):
Around 1:58 there's a clip from X Factor where the band is doing an interview and Thomas talks about being in 7-8th grade (maybe he just said "middle school"?) and Damiano who's sitting next to him interrupts with "bro, at that age I was already thinking about pussy" and everyone (chief among them Victoria) laughs.
Damiano is 18 there, and it's not like he isn't obsessed with showing his dick to every camera on Earth even today, but basically in that moment in time he's totally into interjecting into something unrelated Thomas is saying, just to inform everyone that he's been obsessed with pussy since he was in middle school.
Moving on to this video, a different compilation of clips (with Russian subtitles) where the very first clip you get is Damiano's verse from Francesca Michielin's song "Stato di Natura", which was recorded in 2020 during covid. (Here's a behind-the-scenes video about that, it's not embeddable).
Damiano's verse for that song, goes:
We are slaves of a patriarchal culture
A culture of possession
Where no one gets to choose the side they're on
Where a mother - is solely a mother
A daughter - is solely a daughter
A man - is solely a man
And love is solely one thing
I've seen too many hands stretched out
Not to help but only to hit
Yelling "great ass" is not a compliment
Remember, fights and fists won't make you a man
And look, I mean I could write 20 posts about this probably (I'm trying not to!) but honestly putting that clip from 2017 with this clip from 2020 can just be the full "reasons there is still hope for straight men" package.
It is just AMAZING to me that in like 4 years of performing and being famous and touring different countries Damiano went from "jokes about being obsessed with pussy in school are hilarious and appropriate for TV" to "we must dismantle the patriarchy and my part in that will be to speak to other men about their violent behavior".
And again, none of this is meant to suggest anyone in that band is infallible or has like a gender studies degree, but my god. MY GOD what a difference those 4 years made. You can see, I think, looking at those lyrics why the path from that to kissing Thomas on stage as a statement was pretty short and straightforward.
2.
I don't really know how to phrase this, but I'm forever fascinated by how savvy this band is in terms of interacting with their fandom, and at the same time how SOLID the walls and boundaries they put around their personal lives.
It's truly something to marvel at in the age of social media influencers, and especially fascinating for me as a case study of gen z musicians who entered a music industry landscape where social media was an integral part of things instead of something to figure out and negotiate.
Like, they've had a steady social media presence since they were a highschool cover band. Literally Damiano talks about that as part of what being in a band required - coming to rehearsals, having an active Facebook and Insta page, keeping those two things going at all times.
Like even now, they will all post extremely revealing, borderline "shocking" content that they know will play well with their core audience, stuff that's SO personal and so rare even from actual professional influencers (Damiano having his pants pulled off in bed, Thomas actually pissing on screen, Victoria's endless shots of her boobs with only nipple pasties), and at the same time there is a CHASM between their media presence and their actual personal lives.
Like it took FOUR YEARS for Damiano to crack and admit he had a girlfriend, and that was basically only because they won Eurovision and he knew the attention and scrutiny were about to become a billion times worse. Just think about him sneaking around for 4 years, with media and with fans, keeping a lid on at ALL TIMES on every relationship related question/questions about his daily life, think about him not bringing his girlfriend to a SINGLE PUBLIC EVENT that either of them ever went to, not bringing her on tour in any meaningful way (they were vlogging all their tours, so it was all documented).
And that's Damiano, who is already the MOST exposed of all of them, who's shown his brother and mom on screen before, who talked openly about his parents' professions.
Victoria has NEVER shown any of her family on screen afaik, except in baby pictures. It's been literal years of them being famous and aside from her being half-Danish no one knows what her parents do for a living, or whether she has siblings. And of course, no one EVER knew anything about her personal life, except the desperate thirst to ship her with Damiano which X Factor stoked and the band manipulated for attention (even WHILE DAMIANO WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP lol).
Thomas similarly has shared NOTHING about his personal life basically ever, except to say he's straight. Even in their documentary from when he was 17, he's filmed in his parents' home but not ever interacting with them. (As an only child, I think everything about Thomas screams only child, lol, but my guess is literally as good as yours!)
Ethan has SO STAUNCHLY refused to talk about his romantic life it makes me think he's been married for like 3 years lolol the best I've casually absorbed so far is him saying he has twin sisters (something he only revealed after winning Eurovision and I had a feeling regretted admitting immediately lol, because the question caught him off guard) and also an old TV show where the hosts asks which member of the band has 8 siblings and Ethan does math in his head for a second and goes "yes, there's 9 of us, so I have 8 siblings".
It's just such a FASCINATING case study of the gen z relationship to social media where people who got famous as teens know that social is super important and MUST have quality, personal, engaging, revealing, intimate content, and at the same time have learned how to provide that without ever revealing anything about their personal lives. A MASTERCLASS, truly.
3.
Speaking of X Factor shipping Damiano and Victoria, definitely understand where the ground zero of those speculations - and the band's refusal to confirm or deny them - originated.
This is what I'm sure one of MANY instances where the reality show tried to imply there might - or might not! - be something between Damiano and Victoria, using both candid and staged footage.
We still have no idea whether in the very early days there was anything between Victoria and Damiano (I personally think it's unlikely just because the fallout from their breakup would have potentially broken up the band? But it's anyone's guess) but boy, this video sure proves there was definitely nothing between them by X Factor lolol they are so clearly friends who enjoy playing up their dynamic for the cameras, IDK, to me it seems pretty cut and dry.
Anyway, since after X Factor a lot of their press relied on "are Damiano and Victoria together?????" which they also played up in concerts, again INCLUDING WHEN DAMIANO WAS ALREADY IN A RELATIONSHIP, it puts things in a different light for me, in terms of why they were always coy in later interviews about whether they were ever together, but Victoria had no problem denying any romantic relationship with Ethan and Thomas. I mean anything's possible! But to me it def feels like the sort of thing they just decided they'd never ~reveal to keep people guessing.
4.
I don't think we can end this post without talking about the official Maneskin account, which HABITUALLY posts shit that makes the FANDOM go "whoa isn't that a bit too far???", posting a photo of Damiano and Thomas actually peeing in a public bathroom, and you know they were ACTUALLY PEEING because you can SEE THE STREAM OF PISS leaving Thomas' body.
So like, if this was a staged photo Thomas can pee on command, and if it wasn't then someone (Ethan? Leo? Something else?) decided this was a crucial moment to document and they later went "yes this is a good photo for social".
Anyway, I'm just. I'm ready for all your watersports fics, fandom. Like, when this is the actual canon, HOW CAN YOU NOT.
Also I will be delighted to hear anyone's theories on whether Damiano took ALL OF HIS CLOTHES OFF in a public bathroom because he knew about the photo or because that's just a thing he does. He and Thomas just habitually go into public urinals, and Damiano drops his pants fully to the floor.
Seriously that photo is like a cultural artifact of the "show me you're kinky without showing me you're kinky" meme. Because this is literally either just two friends using the urinals at the same time, or like, the prelude (or aftermath) of [insert kinks here] public bathroom sex fic.
(Thomas' reasoning: showing myself pissing to millions of people is fine, but I absolutely refuse to tell anyone whether I'm single or dating!)
comments on Dreamwidth
In this post: Is There Hope For Straight Men?, piss kink, and thoughts on gen z relationships with social media.
1.
I will never get tired of talking about the fascinating process of watching a famous straight dude become aware of his enormous privilege especially in relation to women but also in relation to other marginalized groups, and how Damiano is a fascinating example of this.
I stumbled on two videos that PERFECTLY encapsulated this!
First, here's this compilation of various random/cute Damiano and Thomas moments:
Click to viewSo aside from having various hilarious/cringy stuff in there (I just need to erase from my brain that people actually legit called Thomas "cobra" when he was 16-17 because he got a cobra tattoo, that is the most ridiculous shit that's ever existed):
Around 1:58 there's a clip from X Factor where the band is doing an interview and Thomas talks about being in 7-8th grade (maybe he just said "middle school"?) and Damiano who's sitting next to him interrupts with "bro, at that age I was already thinking about pussy" and everyone (chief among them Victoria) laughs.
Damiano is 18 there, and it's not like he isn't obsessed with showing his dick to every camera on Earth even today, but basically in that moment in time he's totally into interjecting into something unrelated Thomas is saying, just to inform everyone that he's been obsessed with pussy since he was in middle school.
Moving on to this video, a different compilation of clips (with Russian subtitles) where the very first clip you get is Damiano's verse from Francesca Michielin's song "Stato di Natura", which was recorded in 2020 during covid. (Here's a behind-the-scenes video about that, it's not embeddable).
Damiano's verse for that song, goes:
We are slaves of a patriarchal culture
A culture of possession
Where no one gets to choose the side they're on
Where a mother - is solely a mother
A daughter - is solely a daughter
A man - is solely a man
And love is solely one thing
I've seen too many hands stretched out
Not to help but only to hit
Yelling "great ass" is not a compliment
Remember, fights and fists won't make you a man
And look, I mean I could write 20 posts about this probably (I'm trying not to!) but honestly putting that clip from 2017 with this clip from 2020 can just be the full "reasons there is still hope for straight men" package.
It is just AMAZING to me that in like 4 years of performing and being famous and touring different countries Damiano went from "jokes about being obsessed with pussy in school are hilarious and appropriate for TV" to "we must dismantle the patriarchy and my part in that will be to speak to other men about their violent behavior".
And again, none of this is meant to suggest anyone in that band is infallible or has like a gender studies degree, but my god. MY GOD what a difference those 4 years made. You can see, I think, looking at those lyrics why the path from that to kissing Thomas on stage as a statement was pretty short and straightforward.
2.
I don't really know how to phrase this, but I'm forever fascinated by how savvy this band is in terms of interacting with their fandom, and at the same time how SOLID the walls and boundaries they put around their personal lives.
It's truly something to marvel at in the age of social media influencers, and especially fascinating for me as a case study of gen z musicians who entered a music industry landscape where social media was an integral part of things instead of something to figure out and negotiate.
Like, they've had a steady social media presence since they were a highschool cover band. Literally Damiano talks about that as part of what being in a band required - coming to rehearsals, having an active Facebook and Insta page, keeping those two things going at all times.
Like even now, they will all post extremely revealing, borderline "shocking" content that they know will play well with their core audience, stuff that's SO personal and so rare even from actual professional influencers (Damiano having his pants pulled off in bed, Thomas actually pissing on screen, Victoria's endless shots of her boobs with only nipple pasties), and at the same time there is a CHASM between their media presence and their actual personal lives.
Like it took FOUR YEARS for Damiano to crack and admit he had a girlfriend, and that was basically only because they won Eurovision and he knew the attention and scrutiny were about to become a billion times worse. Just think about him sneaking around for 4 years, with media and with fans, keeping a lid on at ALL TIMES on every relationship related question/questions about his daily life, think about him not bringing his girlfriend to a SINGLE PUBLIC EVENT that either of them ever went to, not bringing her on tour in any meaningful way (they were vlogging all their tours, so it was all documented).
And that's Damiano, who is already the MOST exposed of all of them, who's shown his brother and mom on screen before, who talked openly about his parents' professions.
Victoria has NEVER shown any of her family on screen afaik, except in baby pictures. It's been literal years of them being famous and aside from her being half-Danish no one knows what her parents do for a living, or whether she has siblings. And of course, no one EVER knew anything about her personal life, except the desperate thirst to ship her with Damiano which X Factor stoked and the band manipulated for attention (even WHILE DAMIANO WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP lol).
Thomas similarly has shared NOTHING about his personal life basically ever, except to say he's straight. Even in their documentary from when he was 17, he's filmed in his parents' home but not ever interacting with them. (As an only child, I think everything about Thomas screams only child, lol, but my guess is literally as good as yours!)
Ethan has SO STAUNCHLY refused to talk about his romantic life it makes me think he's been married for like 3 years lolol the best I've casually absorbed so far is him saying he has twin sisters (something he only revealed after winning Eurovision and I had a feeling regretted admitting immediately lol, because the question caught him off guard) and also an old TV show where the hosts asks which member of the band has 8 siblings and Ethan does math in his head for a second and goes "yes, there's 9 of us, so I have 8 siblings".
It's just such a FASCINATING case study of the gen z relationship to social media where people who got famous as teens know that social is super important and MUST have quality, personal, engaging, revealing, intimate content, and at the same time have learned how to provide that without ever revealing anything about their personal lives. A MASTERCLASS, truly.
3.
Speaking of X Factor shipping Damiano and Victoria, definitely understand where the ground zero of those speculations - and the band's refusal to confirm or deny them - originated.
This is what I'm sure one of MANY instances where the reality show tried to imply there might - or might not! - be something between Damiano and Victoria, using both candid and staged footage.
We still have no idea whether in the very early days there was anything between Victoria and Damiano (I personally think it's unlikely just because the fallout from their breakup would have potentially broken up the band? But it's anyone's guess) but boy, this video sure proves there was definitely nothing between them by X Factor lolol they are so clearly friends who enjoy playing up their dynamic for the cameras, IDK, to me it seems pretty cut and dry.
Anyway, since after X Factor a lot of their press relied on "are Damiano and Victoria together?????" which they also played up in concerts, again INCLUDING WHEN DAMIANO WAS ALREADY IN A RELATIONSHIP, it puts things in a different light for me, in terms of why they were always coy in later interviews about whether they were ever together, but Victoria had no problem denying any romantic relationship with Ethan and Thomas. I mean anything's possible! But to me it def feels like the sort of thing they just decided they'd never ~reveal to keep people guessing.
4.
I don't think we can end this post without talking about the official Maneskin account, which HABITUALLY posts shit that makes the FANDOM go "whoa isn't that a bit too far???", posting a photo of Damiano and Thomas actually peeing in a public bathroom, and you know they were ACTUALLY PEEING because you can SEE THE STREAM OF PISS leaving Thomas' body.
So like, if this was a staged photo Thomas can pee on command, and if it wasn't then someone (Ethan? Leo? Something else?) decided this was a crucial moment to document and they later went "yes this is a good photo for social".
Anyway, I'm just. I'm ready for all your watersports fics, fandom. Like, when this is the actual canon, HOW CAN YOU NOT.
Also I will be delighted to hear anyone's theories on whether Damiano took ALL OF HIS CLOTHES OFF in a public bathroom because he knew about the photo or because that's just a thing he does. He and Thomas just habitually go into public urinals, and Damiano drops his pants fully to the floor.
Seriously that photo is like a cultural artifact of the "show me you're kinky without showing me you're kinky" meme. Because this is literally either just two friends using the urinals at the same time, or like, the prelude (or aftermath) of [insert kinks here] public bathroom sex fic.
(Thomas' reasoning: showing myself pissing to millions of people is fine, but I absolutely refuse to tell anyone whether I'm single or dating!)
comments on Dreamwidth