“I Wanna Be Your Slave” by Måneskin

There’s a lot going on in this song, with the first verse especially being quite detailed in terms of the singer’s romantic relationship with the addressee, though primarily, as implied by the title, from an ideological standpoint. 

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Maneskin's I Wanna Be Your Slave at Lyrics.org.

By the looks of things, the most basic message being put forth in the verses is that he is willing to be her everything for the purpose of achieving some ultimately meaningless, i.e. completely noncommittal, sex. 

But with that idea in mind, the chorus is a bit unusual, with the singer proclaiming his desire for “redemption”. And to us, that sounds like he wants to achieve a new lease on romance after behaving less-than-ideally in that regard in the past. However, it has been said that what he is actually speaking to in the chorus is the universal need for saving, or something like that.

Meanwhile, as explained by frontman Damiano David, there is a reason why the vocalist refers to himself in so many different characters. To him, this represents “all the facets of sexuality” and that humans don’t necessarily need to “have a single identity”. 

And whereas processing all of these ideas within the context of the way they are presented in the lyrics may seem pretty confusing, so it is in the world of hard rock sometimes.

What “I Wanna Be Your Slave” is all about

But what we have been able to ascertain is that Måneskin intended this song to be more about sex than love itself. Indeed telling a romantic interest that you ‘want to be their slave’ and furthermore “sex toy” conjures up images of S&M or what have you. 

Also letting someone know that after ‘making them love you’, you intend to ‘leave them’ definitely doesn’t read like true romance.

So once again going back to the title, all philosophical fluff aside, what this narrative seems to boil down to is a vocalist who wants to be sexually used, in a very naughty sort of way, by the apple of his eye.

Lyrics to "I Wanna Be Your Slave"
Måneskin's Damiano David discusses "I Wanna Be Your Slave"

Måneskin

Måneskin is a band from Italy that we have covered in the recent past, as they took first place at the Eurovision Song Contest earlier in 2021. The name of the song that actually won the competition is Zitti e Buoni. And “I Wanna Be Your Slave” came out via Sony as part of that same album, Teatro d’ira: Vol. I, on 19 March 2021. 

Official Single Release

Then a few months after, in July of 2021, it was released as the undertaking’s third single. “Zitti e Bouni” was the second single. 

I Wanna Be Your Slave

More Facts about “I Wanna Be Your Slave”

Even before being released as a single this song managed to chart. And its overall global performance is making it seem as if Måneskin may be one of the few Eurovision Song Contest winners with lasting commercial appeal. 

Indeed “I Wanna Be Your Slave” charted in a solid 30 nations. And all things considered its most impressive showing would be on the UK Singles Chart. Here, it peaked at number 5, even surpassing the performance of “Zitti e Buoni”.

Also this track has been certified in a few countries, most notably going platinum in Italy and Poland. And in light of its success, a remix was released in August of 2021. The said remix features American rock icon Iggy Pop.

Måneskin is made up of bassist Victoria de Angelis, vocalist Damiano David, guitarist Thomas Raggi and drummer Ethan Torchio. Those four individuals are credited with writing “I Wanna Be Your Slave”. And Måneskin also produced the track with Fabrizio Ferraguzzo, the same musician who co-produced “Zitti e Buoni”.

The music video’s director is Simone Bozzelli.

This song is rendered in English, not Måneskin’s native language of Italian. And it is one of only two tracks on Teatro d’ira: Vol. I in which they did so.

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