BAIS: Radical Pop as a Generational Music Manifesto

We met Bais on a warm spring afternoon in East Milan – the neighborhood he frequents most and now calls home. Wandering through sun-drenched streets and quiet courtyards, we searched for the best photo spots: beyond music, Luca Zambelli Bais is also a passionate analog photographer. As he explained to us, the way he observes through a lens often reflects how he writes music – instinctively, sensitively, always looking for the raw truth beneath the surface.

His new album, Radical Pop, released on April 11 via Sugar Music, is a collision of contradictions: subtle anxieties and danceable melancholy, barely healed wounds and bitter smiles, all stitched together by a persistent, poetic quest for meaning. It’s not just a record – Radical Pop is a manifesto, both personal and generational. Twelve tracks that turn the conventions of pop inside out, fusing nostalgia and futurism, chaos and control, poetry and distortion.

Born in 1993 in Bassano del Grappa and now based in Milan, Bais debuted in 2020 with his EP Apnea, a fusion of pop, R&B, and alt-sonorities. In 2021, he released Diviso Due, a concept album reflecting his duality as an artist torn between accessible pop and intimate experimentation. His national visibility grew with a finalist spot at Sanremo Giovani 2021, and in 2023, he released Disco Due, solidifying his identity as one of Italy’s most eclectic new voices. With Radical Pop, produced by Carlo Corbellini (Post Nebbia), Bais embraces a rich, experimental soundscape of analog synths, distorted guitars, and lyrics suspended between irony and depth.

In this conversation, we spoke with Luca about being radical in today’s world, creative obsessions, and what it feels like to see your music crash – like the shoe in Gio Pastori’s artwork – into a collective imagination.

How are you, Luca? What’s going on in your life right now?
Hi, I’m good, thank you! A lot has been happening since the release of my new album. Right now I’m preparing the live set for the summer: we’re choosing the songs, rearranging the parts, and rehearsing with the band. It’s an intense phase – a bit challenging, but also very exciting.

Would you like to tell us who you are and how you’d describe your music to someone who doesn’t know you yet?
I’m a musician, and the thing I love most is writing songs. I’ve always struggled to describe my music, because putting it into a specific genre feels limiting. Maybe that’s also why I decided to name the album after an invented genre.

“Radical Pop” is a strong title, almost an oxymoron. What does “radical pop” mean to you? Where does that definition come from?
I’m very drawn to the word “radical”: I hear something primal in it, a drive to get to the root of things, without compromise. I also see it as a reaction to the times we’re living in, where the past feels like a utopia and the future like a sentence. The album title came up as a joke during a studio session – there were synth sequences mixing with the summer heat of Turin; on the desk, a beer, a slice of cheese, and an ashtray.

The album’s sound mixes past and future: distorted guitars, analog synths, production that shifts from lo-fi to hyper-polished. How did you find that balance? Was it instinctive or more thought-out?
It was a very instinctive process. Carlo and I tried to push toward contrasting and ambiguous sounds, combining warm harmonies with darker, more dystopian frequencies.

Your lyrics deal with themes like generational anxiety, loss, and the search for self. Is there a song you feel especially connected to or one that felt liberating to write?
I find a little sense of release in every song. Sometimes I get stuck on a track for months, even just because of one chord that gives me pleasure. I’m particularly attached to how Avvoltoi came about – it’s one of the few songs I wrote in one go in a single evening, and it’s basically unchanged from the first recording.

The artwork by Gio Pastori is really evocative. Do you see yourself in the image of the “shoe that hits and leaves a mark”? How did that concept come about?
I do see myself in it, but more than anything I see the album in it. I associate the sharp, elemental shapes of the shoe and the explosion with the different sonic sides of the record. I met Gio at a dinner and a friendship started from there, which led me to ask him to work on the cover. It was a beautiful process: we had long chats in his studio, flipping through past work and early drafts. I trusted his vision to give a face to Radical Pop.

If you were an image, an artwork, what would you be?
The OOZ by King Krule.

Besides music, do you have other creative passions or obsessions?
Yes, I have a deep love for photography and analog film. Alongside music, I also work as a photographer. I think the way I observe and shoot has a strong influence on how I approach music too.

What’s your relationship with Milan today compared to the past? Has your way of experiencing or narrating it changed?
It has changed, and for the better, year after year. At first it was just the city where I studied, now I feel it’s home. The only thing I still struggle with in Milan is the lack of a river.

AI is becoming more and more present in the creative world. How do you relate to this “new voice”? Does it intrigue you, scare you, would you use it to create music or lyrics?
I’m quite ignorant about the subject. I don’t really have a strong opinion on it yet, but for now, I don’t think I’d use it to create music. AI in art, for the moment, seems kind of bland and boring to me.

What are the albums of your life? The ones you always come back to or that truly left a mark?
There are so many, but here are a few that have stuck with me over the years: Wow and Endkadenz by Verdena, Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles, The Party by Andy Shauf, IGOR by Tyler, The Creator, In Rainbows by Radiohead, Circles by Mac Miller, Paris Milonga by Paolo Conte, La voce del padrone by Battiato, Lucio Dalla by Lucio Dalla, and Il mio canto libero by Battisti.

Does Radical Pop close a chapter or open a new one? Where do you see yourself going from here?
I think chapters never really close entirely, so this definitely opens a new one. I’m already writing new songs and thinking about how I want to produce the next album. But for now, I want to focus on preparing the live show and bringing Radical Pop to the stage in the best and most respectful way possible.

Interview by @benedetta.borioni

Photograby by @rosariorex

Talent @luca_bais

Press @outloud_pr

Music Label @sugarmusicofficial

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