Balorda nostalgia
by Olly & Juli
How to study this song
The card for “Balorda nostalgia” is built from 70 study entries at A2+: 24 Italian words, 7 adjectives and 39 verb forms. Start with the glossary: nostalgia, sera and signora come up again and again, so they are the ones to know first. This one leans on its verbs: 39 distinct forms against 7 adjectives, so conjugation is where the effort goes. At this level the goal is recognition: hear a word, place it, keep going.
The words of this song, in six languages
Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.
Vocabulary
| IT | EN | ES | FR | PT | NL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nostalgia | longing, nostalgia | nostalgia | nostalgie | nostalgia | heimwee |
| sera | evening | tarde, noche |
Adjectives
| IT | EN | ES | FR | PT | NL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| balorda | no-good, wretched | torpe, de mal cariz | minable | ordinária | beroerd |
| bella | lovely (here ironic) | bonita (aquí irónico) |
Verb forms
| IT | EN | ES | FR | PT | NL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sarà | it will be | será | ce sera | será | het zal zijn |
| è | is | es | est |
What this song teaches you
Level · A2+
- Vocabulary words
- 24
- Adjectives
- 7
- Word combos
- 4
- Expressions
- 10
- Verb forms
- 39
- Quiz questions
- 35
Background
About the song
Olly won the 2025 Sanremo Festival with «Balorda nostalgia», a break-up told entirely through the furniture. The sofa, the remote control, an extra plate laid at dinner, a television switched on for company — the song never argues, it just lists what is still in the wrong place. The word in the title is unusual: a nostalgia that is not sweet but shabby, the kind that makes you feel worse rather than better.
Did you know?
The conditional of «to want» appears eleven times in a row in the bridge, and the song ends not with «I love you» but with the gentler Italian phrase reserved for affection that outlasts the romance.
Charts & streaming
Released on 12 February 2025, during the 75th Sanremo Festival, which it won. Sanremo winners routinely top the Italian singles chart in the week that follows.