Songfacts®:

• Måneskin is an Italian rock band founded in 2016 by four students from the same high school in Monteverde, Rome. Their name is Danish for moonshine; a tribute to bassist Victoria De Angelis' home country. The group, who honed their musical style busking in Rome, first rose to fame after coming second in the Italian talent show X Factor. They achieved international recognition when this song won the Eurovision Song Contest four years later.
• The four band members originally penned "Zitti e Buoni" as a ballad in 2016 before gradually transforming it into a rock stomper.
• Lyrically, this song expresses solidarity with the band members' generation who stand out against society's set rules and live their lives in their own unique way. The title (literally "shut up and behave") is a criticism of adults who want young people to conform to their expectations rather than expressing their individuality.
• Måneskin became the Italian representatives in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest when they won the "Big Artists" section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 with this song. They trailed the entrants from France and Switzerland after the jury vote, but were propelled to victory by the public vote, leaving France in second place and Switzerland in third. The band hailed their win as a sign that "rock and roll never dies."
• Måneskin's win was only Italy's third Eurovision victory and the first since Toto Cutugno's victory in 1990. They are the first group to come first in the competition since Lordi triumphed with "Hard Rock Hallelujah" in 2006.
• The band cleaned up a couple of sweary lyrics before performing "Zitti E Buoni" at the Eurovision Song Contest. However, on their reprise performance after winning the competition, Måneskin performed the uncensored version of the song.
• The song's message of challenging prejudices comes from Måneskin's philosophy of marching to their own drum in the face of negativity. "We've experienced that a lot. In Italy, rock music isn't really the thing," De Angelis told NME. "When we started playing music like this, everyone was telling us, 'No way, you can't make music like this and it won't get you anywhere.' We were sure about what we were doing and we believed in it, so we kept on doing it.
  
  De Angelis added that the band members also get criticized for not conforming to gender norms. "The boys wear makeup and we talk a lot about sexuality," she said. "The song is about that too – you should just be yourself, express yourself and not care about what other people have to say."