Il Divo—Wicked Game

The last time I listened to Il Divo was in 2021. It was when the covid pandemic happened, all the countries locked down and were surrounded by intense anxiety. I was lucky enough to keep my daily routine. Everyday after work at night, I always listened to Il Divo’s music. Their beautiful and intriguing singing led me to a space undisturbed, and to a world enchanted. Their beautiful music made me think that they would forever be with me.

I was 13 years old when I first heard of Il Divo. It was in 2004 when they just released their first album 《Il Divo》. When I was browsing at the record shop after school (yes, there were shops selling CDs and vinyls 20 years ago), I saw the shelves displaying their albums. I was curious and listened to the demo, then I got attracted by them. The song〈Regresa A Mí〉had the most beautiful melody and harmony. I bought the album right away.

When I got home, I listened to the album again and again. Though I didn’t fully understand the Spanish and Italian lyrics sung by them, I was still drowning in their luring music and singing. Everyday after studying at night, listening to Il Divo with my pink iPod mini in bed before falling asleep was the most fulfilling thing for me.

Days after days, and months after months, Il Divo’s music enlightened me with the sense of  romance, and inspired my imagination for love.

I also became obsessed with the four distinguished singers of Il Divo: American tenor David, French vocal singer Seb, Swiss tenor Urs, and Spanish baritone Carlos.

Especially Carlos.

Maybe it was because I have been an opera fan since I was a little girl. In operas, the main character was always the tenor. And the baritone could only be the supporting character. Even though I enjoyed the deep and steady voice of the baritone, they never had enough performance, and I could never have enough of it.

But Carlos was different. In Il Divo, Carlos always used his deep and sonorous voice to create the rich layers in the harmony. He also performed the strongest emotion by being the deepest and most moving voice in every climax, and became the main character at the turning point of music. In every song of four minutes, Carlos gave the fullest life to the baritone’s voice. It could be loving and sexy. It can also be gentle and grandeur.

Il Divo had always been the best popera group since their first day. They reinterpreted many famous songs by performing them with classical operatic singing. From pop songs to Broadway musicals, and from English, Italian, Spanish to French, their diverse choice of repertoire attracted audiences all over the world. Their selling of 30 million albums also proved their success and popularity.

Il Divo accompanied me through my awkward teenage years and then junior high to high school, and then college. When I didn’t understand what love was, Il Divo composed the most romantic dream for me with their singing. When I was a nerd in college with little social life, Il Divo was with me through those tough years with their gentle and intriguing music. Then I went to New York to pursue my Master’s degree, Il Divo accompanied me through every freezing New York winter and late night at the library. Now I am in my thirties, looking at those albums on the shelves and the old iPod mini, suddenly, I realized that Il Divo has been with me for 20 years.

Il Divo’s album《Wicked Game》released in 2011 is my favorite. Every single song fully shows the four members’ characteristics and perfect harmony. The four members also transformed from the initial pure romantic to now mature and steady as time passed by. They interpreted romance, and soothed the sorrow. I especially love the song 〈Melanconia〉, their reworking of the Chris Isaak’s song〈Wicked Game〉. Starting from the blurring and gentle intro, to the magnificent and extensive verse. Il Divo taught me that the melancholy that cannot be told would always be understood.

However, I was always obsessed with Carlos’ voice in every song. His deep and emotional voice could always made me drop all my guards. Like a glass of Bordeaux wine, it possessed the deep color and alluring scent, and the rich and intense taste. When all the passionate feeling was flooding towards me, I could not stop them, but surrender.

In 2021, Carlos died of covid, at the age of 53.

Like all the other audiences, I was shocked, and felt endless sadness. It felt like there was a hole deep in my heart, and the blood was bleeding from the broken heart. It brought away my memories, and the Il Divo I thought would always be with me.

I could never look at Il Divo’s albums again. Staring at Carlos’ name, knowing that the singer accompanying me through these years was gone, and looking at the pictures of Il Divo, I knew this could never go back.

I put all their albums in my basement, and decided that I would never listen to them again.

Then two years had passed, the pandemic ended. All the world-famous orchestras started to visit Taipei again. I went to concerts almost every week. No matter how exhausted I was during the day, a live concert could always refreshen me, and bring back my lost emotional soul.

One night, I just got home from a live concert of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2. I poured myself a glass of wine. I sat on the couch and was browsing Youtube on TV. Maybe the concert took my brain away, when Youtube recommended me a video of Il Divo, I clicked it without thinking twice. And it was Il Divo’s live performance of 〈Melanconia〉in 2011.

The music started, those faces and voices once familiar to me brought all my memories back.  Il Divo twelve years ago still sounded attractive and intriguing. Carlos’ voice was the same magnificent, giving the deepest emotion from the beginning of the song. His voice was like the dark night arriving on land, deep and gentle. And Seb’s voice was the moonlight on the beach at night, beautiful and sparkle. And Urs’s tender voice was the stars in the night sky. And it was Carlos again, singing the thousand nights and days without a companion, and the endless missing and grieving. In the end, the four members’ harmony was the ocean waves, coming with strength and power, and Carlos was the wild winds moving the waves, playing the melancholy and sorrow from the bottom of heart.

All of these were heartbreaking and obsessing.

With Il Divo’s singing, I thought of those countless nights listening to them. Thinking of those thousand of days without Il Divo, and the sorrow coming with the death of Carlos, and the upset caused by work, I could not hold my sadness anymore. Those tears just dropped on my face quietly and endlessly. And Il Divo’s singing was like always, caressed my sadness, like the silver moonlight on the ocean at midnight.

At that moment, I was convinced by them: All the melancholy untold, Il Divo understood. Those once loved and then lost, Il Divo remembered. All the moments in life, Il Divo was always by our side. Like those 20 years which transformed me from a girl to a woman, it was Il Divo who gave me the image of romance, and it was Carlos’ singing that taught me the feeling of love and farewell.

Therefore, I listened to〈Melanconia〉again and again, like the first time I listened to the song, when the four members of Il Divo were all there.

For 20 years, their singing is so beautiful and so magical, like nothing has ever happened outside the world, like everything we have is eternal.