A te

Background

The song is a romantic piano ballad produced by Michele Canova. Jovanotti wrote it as a love declaration to his partner Francesca Valiani, whom he married in September 2008. He stated that he wrote the lyrics in one go while far from her, finding inspiration in that distance. The music was composed with pianist Franco Santarnecchi, and Jovanotti later said the song was written in five minutes, claiming it was already inside him.

Live performances

Jovanotti premiered the song during the fourth night of the 58th Sanremo Music Festival as a musical guest. A live performance from the Safari tour appears on the video album Nessuna ombra intorno. The album Oyeah includes an official live bootleg version, and the 2011 video album Live 'Ora' in tour features a recording from the Ora tour. A 2012 live album, Lorenzo in concerto per Jovanotti e orchestra, includes a version with a new arrangement by Paolo Buonvino.

Commercial performance

In Italy, the song debuted on the FIMI Top Digital Downloads chart in January 2008. It spent four weeks in the top 20, peaking at number six during its third week, then fell off the chart.

It became the best-selling single of 2008 in Italy and remained in the Italian top 20 for 45 non-consecutive weeks until January 2009. The single received multi-platinum certification from the Federation of the Italian Music Industry. In Switzerland, it spent 25 weeks on the Singles Top 75, peaking at number 21, making it Jovanotti's second highest-charting single there after "Gimme Five".

Plagiarism allegations

In July 2008, Spanish journalist Quico Alsedo of El Mundo suggested on his blog that "A te" closely resembles "A la primera persona" by Alejandro Sanz, implying possible plagiarism. Alsedo noted that both songs share a similar melodic line and a common harmonic base. Jovanotti responded that he had never heard Sanz's song before being told of the similarity, and that his album had been released well before. He added that both songs use a simple harmonic progression found in hundreds of songs, one that some attribute to Johann Sebastian Bach.

Did You Know?

• The music video, directed by Maki Gherzi, shows Jovanotti alone in a timeless recording studio wearing a golden jacket while playing piano; the woman is represented only by light shining on the jacket.
• Dutch singer Guus Meeuwis recorded a Dutch-language version titled "Dat komt door jou" in 2009, which reached number 4 on the Single Top 100.
• In 2015, Mexican singer Emmanuel released a Spanish version called "A ti" as a single from his album "Inédito".