Johnson Mella - Cerco una vibe (live) (2026) Hi Res

Body feint, Neapolitan philosophy, and a Florentine accent. These and more are the ingredients of the second, highly anticipated EP by Johnson Mella, aka Lorenzo Luigi Sommella. The album is titled "Cerco una Vibe" (I'm Looking for a Vibe) and carries with it the strength of years of Black music and songwriting.

Yes, because Johnson's sound is the fruit of a world that is poor, yet vibrant. The context of Black American music is marked by rhythm, social struggle, and the desire to touch the hearts and souls of those who listen. Mella inherits this essential lesson directly from D'Angelo, the American artist and father of neo-soul, who tragically passed away at just 51 in October last year. There are numerous references to the Richmond singer-songwriter: the EP opens with "Brown Sugar" and closes with "Senza Titolo," a tribute to two of D'Angelo's songs of the same name.

His first album, Tirando le somma, published simply as "Sommella," was released in 2022, and from then on, his passion for funk was already evident, as was his desire to constantly shed skin and renew himself, both in name and sound.

Johnson's gaze is light, light-hearted, and bittersweet, with half-mast eyelids: the fruit of great intelligence and creative sensitivity combined with a desire to recount the present. Through lyrics tinged with hip hop and R&B, the lyrics communicate a desire to intercept and understand the historical period in which we find ourselves, trusting in Bennati's principle of "have doubts," but without renouncing certainties. This philosophical approach Johnson borrows from Neapolitan writer Luciano De Crescenzo, a master at sharing and explaining the most complex concepts of philosophy with a laugh.

Cerco una vibe, released on January 30th, is an EP that uses black music as an emotional grammar and philosophy as a lyrical framework, demonstrating that one can think about the present, even in its most difficult folds, without stopping dancing to it.