This interview with Ambra Lo Faro is special. When I was little, I saw her more than once as a fan on various circumstances and it was beautiful to reconnect with her in this way. For this reason, we talked a lot and I had to cut out the more "personal" things, as it always happens with interviews but this time it was different because there are no Italians of my generation who don't know her. She’s a Disney star from the golden era of Disney Channel: she was part of Quelli dell’intervallo (As the bell rings) and sang several soundtracks in Italian like the ones from Il Mondo di Patty, Cheetah Girls and High School Musical, even doing the Italian tour for Il Mondo di Patty and the Disney Channel Games. She’s obviously also a very talented singer and musician who has always written her own songs. Now, she has a different maturity and in this interview we talked about her latest songs Scenari and Mi vieni in mente, her experience at Disney, the Disney Channel Games, the current music industry, and her current and future projects. Enjoy!
Your latest singles Scenari and Mi vieni in mente were released recently. What was the creative process like? It has definitely evolved compared to your previous projects…
Definitely! It’s the first time I’ve really written in Italian at a more mature age. Let’s say Italian is always a complicated language because it’s our own, so you don’t have filters because everyone understands you, unlike English. But I’m happy, I think these are two really beautiful pieces that I care a lot about. Both go in the direction of pop but it’s a contaminated pop, so there’s definitely a lot of jazz in them. We worked so much on them though, considering all the live shows, it wasn’t easy, but I’m happy that they are finally ready. The songs were written by me, arranged by Mattia Chiappi, and co-produced with Music Glass and Owl & Wolf Studio, Mattia and Alberto Pasquale’s production company. The mastering was done by Raoul Tchoi in Paris to give it an international touch and, among the musicians, besides Mattia and Alberto, we have Michael Tabarroni who plays the bass.
Let’s start from the beginning: how did you get into acting?
I got into acting because I was singing. Music has always been my first profession: acting, sitcoms, and all that came later. That’s where I tried to add my own things, my music to Mafy, my character from Quelli dell’intervallo. Initially, my character didn’t sing, but then, little by little, as you’ll remember, we added some songs, and that’s when a nice collaboration with other artists came up. I’ve always been very sitcom-like in my life, so it basically came naturally to me, but 12 years at Disney definitely change you.
I was actually going to ask you this: do you think your Disney experience marked you? What memories do you carry with you from that time?
It marked me a lot and I carry tons of memories. Basically in 12 years you grow up there. I joined when I was 11-12 years old and left when I was 23. I spent my whole adolescence there, growing up with those people. I have a lot of friends from that time. The work experience at that age is something you usually don’t experience, and it’s beautiful. I remember being extremely tired but happy. One night I was in Lambrate, taking the train with my mom, and I looked at her and said, “Wow, this is the best moment of my life. I’m exhausted, I’ve worked 13 hours, but it’s amazing,” with the carefree spirit typical of adolescence.
Recently, I don’t know if you’ve seen, there’s this controversy on social media involving your colleagues Jacopo Sarno and Giulia Boverio. There’s a girl in particular who criticizes ex-Disney stars for doing content about the past (a controversy that definitely comes from people who have nothing better to do). I, however, speak for all of us former kids, I really appreciate these flashbacks because many actors from our childhood went through a time when they rejected it all. It’s nice to see that there’s something that connects us former kids with you, the adolescents. We enjoy following your current projects and seeing that there’s something that unites us. What do you think?
Absolutely! You guys from this generation grew up with us, which is something I’d like to say to this lovely girl who enjoys talking about us online. I don’t share much content from the past, but I know that from a strategic point of view on social media, I’m making a big mistake. I have videos with Selena Gomez, videos with Joe Jonas, videos from Orlando at the Disney Channel Games. I still have all of them, but I haven’t posted any of it. Probably that’s wrong because this experience marked me a lot, positively. It taught me a profession, so doing all this has extra meaning. We come from a generation that didn’t have social media. When we were doing Quelli dell’intervallo, Instagram didn’t exist, Facebook barely existed, I didn’t even know about it until the Americans showed it to me in Orlando in 2008. I was there with Selena Gomez, and they showed me Facebook. When I returned to Italy, I joined it too. So now, our problem is finding those kids who followed that program, and there were so many of them; it’s very complicated. That’s why, from time to time, to show what one has done, it’s really nice to talk about the past too. We are that thing. Personally, I still carry Mafy with me in my daily life. I do it with great pride; it was an incredible experience, so why not? We should ask her why she talks about us! What do you think, should I join TikTok?
I think so, it would make sense, especially with the things you can talk about...
I was actually thinking about this just this week. I have a hard drive full of old videos, and I was thinking of starting to republish some behind-the-scenes stuff, things that have never been seen before. I have videos taken with a camera, like we used to do back then, it could be fun. I’ve kept a good relationship with everyone. I talk to Giulia and Jacopo often, they’re probably the only ones I’ve stayed closely in touch with. I follow Giulia every day, she’s so funny, she cracks me up… As for Jacopo, I know him well because we’ve shared a lot of music since we both sing. We were often at events together, he’s like a brother. I care deeply about both of them!
It's so nice to hear this and not that you all hates each other...
Consider that with us there wasn’t even any jealousy among the characters. We were all stereotyped, each one had their role and it was nice that way.
On one hand, it’s better that there were no social media...
Yes, that’s true. But I’ll tell you, I lived in a time when people would ring my doorbell, they would call me at home at all hours. I lived all of this during high school, so unfortunately, I couldn’t even step outside my classroom during break because there would be a line of diaries to sign. But I never experienced it as something bad, strange, or negative, I always had my group of friends who understood that I wasn’t Mafy, but Ambra. I always saw it as something incredible. The amazing thing was that there was all this affection and warmth from people!
Do you have any anecdotes from the Disney Channel Games? I have to ask!
Of course, I have many actually! At the Disney Channel Games, I was on a team with the Jonas Brothers. I remember that during that week, I lost two or three kilos because I didn’t eat any of the food that was there. I’m very selective with food, and you know how Americans always mix everything together. One day, when I went to eat, I saw that there was cooked ham with pineapple on top, and I said, “Noooo, for once I might have been able to eat something decent…” At some point, Joe Jonas, noticing the situation, took all the pineapple off and said to me, “Well, come on, at least eat this because we have to work later!” It was all very serious at the Disney Channel Games!
Really?
Yes, serious and fun. It was like a fairytale because we were treated like Disney stars. Every evening, we would be at some party with super famous people. I remember that the Jonas Brothers had a code name, we couldn’t say their real names, only another one, because otherwise, the whole park would recognize them. It was a huge mess, but a beautiful experience! At 6:30-6:40 AM we were ready to leave, and we had an official who would mark the arrival time. If you arrived two minutes late, you would immediately be reported. It was a very serious work environment, sometimes more serious than the corporate world I live in today. A super serious work environment, but it was fair because everyone would have wanted to do that thing. If you show up there to live a dream life with a driver who takes you wherever you want, you have to respect certain rules. I remember I had a tutor who, since I wasn’t in school at that time, helped me study. One day, during an interview, I yawned. The tutor interrupted everything and said, “Stop everyone, she’s tired. We’ll reschedule the interview.” They made me stop because they thought I was tired. It was a really strange situation.
Wow, I guess that they are super used to working with young actors, with children... it's a whole different world!
Absolutely, a whole different world... Disney is like that, other channels are different, but Disney is extremely protective. We also had to submit our report cards with our grades in order to record, and if you didn’t have sufficient grades, you couldn’t record because Disney wanted you to have a proper academic career.
How nice, thank you so much for all these insights! If you had to recommend a recent song of yours to someone who knew you as Mafy and hasn't heard your recent projects yet, which one would you suggest and why?
I would say Scenari without a doubt. It's a really fun and pop song, so it could appeal to the old audience, but it obviously has a different level of maturity in the writing. It's very different from how I wrote when I was 15, 16, 17 years old. I've written many songs, and from time to time I listen to them again, compare them, and understand how I've changed. I used to be a little girl, now I'm a woman with clear ideas, so yes, I would suggest this one.
And how would you describe the current Italian music industry?
Complicated question... we see too much of everything. I miss a bit of elegance in this music industry, a bit of rigor and good taste. Not to mention autotune, I hate it, if someone sings, they should sing. The entertainment part is fine, but singing is the main thing. I worked with a major and experienced it firsthand: many young artists under contract often focus on other things because maybe they're lacking in singing ability, and people seem more interested in the character than the quality. Very often, a song is liked not because it’s good but because it’s constantly pushed on social media and radio, and by hearing it over and over, it gets stuck in your head. People should understand that music should be judged by those who make it, study it, and truly understand it. I’ve tried to make it clear, through my blog and the column Lato B, that there’s much more behind music, and it needs to be understood.
Who are your favorite artists, the ones that somehow inspire you?
I’m a huge fan of Anderson Paak, it’s a shame that he’s not that well-known in Italy. He has a very interesting style of writing because, being a drummer, he writes melodic and rhythmic lines from a drummer's perspective. What he did with Bruno Mars in Silk Sonic I really love. Bruno Mars is also one of the most interesting artists of the last few years, no doubt about it. I also really like Tom Misch, all that English style derived from jazz but not exactly jazz, a bit more funky. It’s great to listen to music so influenced by different genres, it really opens your mind musically and culturally. Then there are many other artists like Beyoncé, who I absolutely adore.
Do you have any advice for someone who dreams of becoming a singer?
My advice is to break free from the idea of fame at all costs. Fame doesn’t depend on you, it depends on a series of factors that make you super well-known and super appreciated at a given moment. I’ve experienced it and it incredibly but also dangerous. You need to have a strong mental ability to focus on what you’re doing and find satisfaction in that. If you don’t have this ability, you risk that success, that kind of feedback from people, becomes like a drug. Once you experience it, everything else seems insignificant. I remember once I was with my parents in Piazza Duomo in Milan for an event with Hilary Duff who had just released her album. Since we were signed to the same record label, EMI, they asked me to interview her for the TRL show. When I came downstairs, there were thousands of people waiting for her, but she, as tall as me, was protected by two bodyguards, I wasn’t. When I left the building, I saw that the crowd had all rushed to me, chasing me and asking for autographs. That’s when I realized that’s when normal life ends. I never thought of fame as a goal but it’s something that’s given to you if you do your job with love. The secret, though, is that you should never think that the world owes you anything. People are interested in one thing, then maybe another, then they forget. Do your job well, do your best but don’t have too many expectations.
Do you have any future projects? You’ve just released songs that surely took a lot of time...
Well, yes, these two singles took a lot of time and I want the audience to have the right time to listen to them and appreciate them. However, all of December will be dedicated to big live shows and concerts, so I’m taking the rest of November to take a break from live performances and try to get back to writing again. I really think it’s worth it. All the videos from the various live shows this summer are in production right now and will be uploaded gradually. So, more than anything, it’s the new productions that I want people to get to know well.
You can follow Ambra here and listen to her hereunder: