Damiano David, Il Momento

In Camera Roll, musicians offer InStyle an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse at a weekend in the life of an artist, from rehearsing for a major gig to choosing their favorite onstage look. Here, Damiano David takes us to the photoshoot for his solo world tour announcement.

Damiano David is just 26 years old. He’s yet to release a debut album, much less tour the globe solo, or skyrocket to household name status. Yet, in those short 26 years, the Italian singer-songwriter has performed at the VMAs (in nothing but a leather thong and chaps, mind you), dropped a capsule collection with Diesel, amassed more than 6 million Instagram followers, and hit the Met Gala red carpet with his glamazon girlfriend, Dove Cameron. Cool cool cool.  

David, sweet, respectful, chiseled, is best known as the frontman of Måneskin, the Roman rock band that won Eurovision in 2021, earned a Best New Artist Grammy nomination in 2022, and released chart-hopping earworms like “Beggin’,” “Supermodel,” and “Honey.” On camera, via Zoom, from home in Los Angeles, David’s cool, calm, collected energy is a far cry from what you'd expect a super-tatted rock-and-roller to be: obnoxious, scattered, maybe sloppy. “She’s a little crazy,” he tells me, apologizing for Peanut Butter, his cat who intermittently interrupts David mid-sentence to side-eye me during our interview.

Now, with the release of classic rock–esque, stadium-worthy singles “Silverlines” and “Born With a Broken Heart" (the latter having amassed more than 50 million global streams and broken into the U.S. radio Top 20 since its October release), and the spring 2025 arrival of his debut album, Tenderness, David is in his solo era—one he’s always dreamed of experiencing.

“I was just waiting for the right moment for it to become true, and it just felt right right now,” he says, reflecting on pursuing work without his bandmates. “I grew up. I’m matured. So, it felt like the right thing to do. It’s going well—I’m having fun, I’m excited.” Ahead, he teases what’s next.

How did “Silverlines” come to life, and why'd you choose it as the first single?

The most beautiful thing for me about the song is that when I look back at the process of making the record, with “Silverlines,” it felt like I was leaving a message for my future self. That played a huge role in it being the first song I released. Having [producer] Labrinth and [songwriter] Sarah Hudson on it is what played the biggest role into this being my first song—having these two people truly believing in me to put my own signature and sentiment on it.

How quickly did this song come together?

It's very fast. I work on a song a day when I have the right music.

Tell me about your all-time favorite musical influences, and also the influences that shaped your solo debut.

I have so many different influences. I listen to Italian music, English-spoken music. I listen to a lot of Latin music, Spanish-speaking music. I’ve always been extremely interested in different sounds—I don’t have a genre or something that I can point to. My playlist is pretty weird. There’s Queen, musical theater soundtracks, and Karol G. It’s hard for me to define my style. I’m a pop singer in the wider sense of pop. I try to make successful songs, if that’s what pop means. But I don’t try to make successful songs through mathematics, because that’s all bullshit. If that sounds good to you and you feel good singing it, it's more likely to work than something carved out and forced.

When we wrote “Born With a Broken Heart,” that was the third song of the process. I thought, This is the sound I’m interested in, so I started digging into music that sounded like that, that had elements of that. I listened to a lot of Queen, Elton John, Billy Joel, and early Killers; more recently, Stephen Sanchez, Benson Boone.

“Born With a Broken Heart” is quite melancholic, so I’m curious about the headspace you were in when writing it. Many songs I've previewed from the album are love songs.

The biggest push to make the record was stuff happening in my life that made me realize how fragile I really was. I had a very long relationship in my life that everybody knows about, and that came to an end. And then I had another one that nobody knows about, and that came to an end as well. In a very short amount of time, this repeating of the same things happening over and over again, making me really sad over the fact itself and my insecurities and my flaws, that made me think, This is the moment for the album.

I was in this new city with a new environment, everything was fresh, new, and I met the person that today is my partner. I was so scared of not being able to let myself go and to actually trust this person, that I was feeling guilty. I was feeling like, I'm going to break somebody's heart. And it's not because this person is not worth it, it's the most worth-it person I've ever met. It's because I'm not able to do it. So, I'm the one broken, I'm the one defected. I'm the one born with a broken heart. And I was holding back, trying to preserve both of our sanity, but by doing this, of course, I was doing worse, because I was really not letting this person in, and it was very hard for me to wrap my head around it.

That’s the process that my brain indirectly did when I wrote the song. And now, looking back at the song, I can connect the dots and say, I said this because I was thinking that and da-da-da. The record [explores] two very distinguished phases of my life: There was a part about healing, and I'm very still into the moment and I truly believe what I'm singing, and then there's a second part that it's more like, today, me, looking back at what happened and kind of giving a commentary about it.

How have audiences reacted to your solo work?

As I was expecting, there's a split. There's many people that were fans of the band that are hating me for this and hate whatever I do without even really looking at or listening to it—it’s just automatic hate. And then there are a lot of people that are actually understanding it. And I would say that the ones that are getting it are truly getting it. It's not just like, Oh, cool song. I vibe with it. I feel like people are truly getting why I am doing this, what's my intention, what's the message. The level of honesty that I'm putting in it. And I'm very glad about it.

Who is on your mood board right now and what's inspiring you?

There’s a lot of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly. There were some shoots that Willem Dafoe did when he was younger. A lot of Old Hollywood, Marlon Brando, all that stuff.  I used to dress very slutty, I would say, because that's what my energy was at the moment, and then things in my life changed, and I feel like I want to project a different image of myself because I'm actually having different thoughts and different priorities. So, now in my everyday life, my most usual outfit is slacks and a very fitted polo or shirt. So it makes sense for me that my stage persona now is all about suits and tailoring, because it's what makes me feel comfortable in my everyday life. And so for me, it's really just the most expensive version. Not everyday life, not expensive, but luxurious.

How would you describe your current era?

My Italian tailoring era.

Let’s talk about your mustache. Any grooming tips?

It's hard. It takes practice. You’ve got to learn how to really find a beautiful line over the lip, and you don't have to let them overgrow, because it looks bad—you have to shave all around, but not there. It's a huge load of anxiety because you can't make mistakes.

Your visuals are so bold. What do you seek to project through them?

When I write songs in general, I always have images and video clips in my mind. The goal is to really create a world—think of Gotham in superhero movies. I want to create a world where I can be in a blue suit dancing and one second later, the lights get super dark and I’m crying and it has to feel organic and it has to make sense. The goal is to create a very theatrical world where all these things are allowed.

What are you most looking forward to as a solo artist?

I don't know. Performing live...it’s the cherry on top, where all the little things come to life; every picture, every video clip. It’s where you make them feel real and not digital anymore. It’s the moment of truth. You have a chance to change your songs and play it live and have the audience sing back at you. Connecting is fun, one of the most fun parts.

Favorite tattoo?

All my tattoos are one big tattoo. It's like I lost count. I don't really know where one finishes and another one starts. So no, it's one big one.

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