Worldwide-known Brazilian popstar Anitta recently reached the milestone desired by every artist in the music industry: No. 1 on Spotify’s global chart. Her newest song “Envolver” also became No. 1 at the Billboard Global 200, besides being the most searched song at Youtube Brazil and its video the fourth most viewed in the world on the platform.
With over 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Anitta has been receiving progressively more recognition for her work, effortlessly surfing through all kinds of music genres in three different languages, which brought her six Latin Grammy nominations, along with other various indications and countless awards.
Born and raised in the city of Rio de Janeiro, she gave Brazilian music a whole different status, and took her country’s culture to places that maybe had never heard of any Brazilian art. Unfortunately, the country that Anitta comes from is full of talented artists that may never receive the attention she received, mostly because they are not given enough opportunities to show their work.
This article was written for you to get to know some of those artists that deserve to be heard, just like our ‘Girl From Rio’ was.
Lagum
“It’s really cool to be a part of this band, for the fact that they are my best friends, the fact that we canwrite songs in a relaxed and truthful way and for the surprising support that everybody has been giving us so far, giving our band a very healthy growth”, says Pedro Calais, lead singer of the band, on their official website.
Pedro and other three childhood friends – Zani, Francisco and Jorge – got together as a group in 2014, but released their first album only two years later. Since then, they’ve put out two other full albums, alongside dozens of successful singles and collaboration projects.
In their own words, “Lagum started when rock n’ roll decided to skate to the beach while listening to reggae”. Their music is a mix of alternative pop with a touch of reggae and a little bit of rock, which brings that summer-ish feeling for anyone who listens to it. With over two million listeners on Spotify, the band originally from Minas Gerais has been gathering more and more fans as they tour all over the country, singing about love, youth and positive thinking in a fun and casual way.
Jão
This 27-year-old Brazilian singer and songwriter is popularly known as Jão, the simple but effective nickname for his birth name, João Vitor. Born and raised in São Paulo, the singer released his first album entitled “Lobos” in 2018, and started his first tour in the same year, a couple of months later. What many people may think is not enough time to make a name for yourself in the music industry was the time necessary for Jão to become one of the biggest male artists in the country, surpassing 350 million streams right off the bet with “Lobos”, album that entered the Rolling Stone’s Best Albums list of that year.
He then released “Anti-Herói” in 2019 and his most recent album “Pirata” in 2021, productions that brought him almost four million monthly listeners on Spotify and a lot of other milestones, the latest one being his first performance at Lollapalooza this year’s edition of the festival. Jão is famous for writing songs that touch the heart of even the coldest people, with lyrics that make you feel for heartbreaks you’ve never had. He is passionate about both his songwriting and music production processes, and talks about names such as Marisa Monte and Cazuza when asked about his biggest inspirations in music.
ANAVITÓRIA
Commonly misinterpreted as only one artist, the duo Anavitória is formed by the two Brazilian singers Ana Caetano and Vitória Falcão. With concerts scheduled all over the country – plus some European countries such as Italy, France and the UK – the two 22-year-old girls have been gaining popularity among the public with their heart touching songs since 2015, when they released their first EP, followed by their debut album in the next year.
Since they first started in the music industry, Anavitória gathered 4 Latin Grammy Awards: Best Portuguese Language Song for “Trevo(Tu)” in 2017, Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album for “O Tempo É Agora” in 2019, and the same two awards in 2021 for the song “Lisboa” and the album “Cor”, the band’s latest release.
Their music fits in between folk music and Brazilian Popular Music, also known as MPB, and creates a genre that the girls themselves called “rural pop”. Ana and Vitoria’s voices blend in to create a romantic atmosphere that almost every song from the duo has, combined with lyrics about the bright side of love – for you to get over the heartbreak you had while listening to Jão -, make you feel like you’re in love for the first time all over again.
Jovem Dionísio
The band, formed by the five childhood friends Bernardo Pasquali, Gabriel Mendes, Rafael Duna, Gustavo Karam and Bernardo Hey, is based in Curitiba and started making music under the group’s old name “Huff”, in 2012. In 2019, they decided to change their identity, and named themselves after a man called Dionísio, the owner of a bar the boys used to attend to, but with a younger appeal.
Their music is mostly alternative pop, with some indie and hip-hop influences. The discography is not very long, but everything that they’ve put up until now has been very well received by the fans. Their most famous song, “Pontos de Exclamação”, talks about a girl so pretty that the chest aches just from looking at her. The song has now over 27 million plays on Spotify, and has a remix by the Brazilian DJ Vintage Culture with over 45 million plays on the platform, a version that made the song even more popular.
Gilsons
José, João and Francisco Gil are the three members of this band that takes the family name: José’s father, João and Francisco’s grandfather,is the famous and prestigious singer of Brazilian popular music Gilberto Gil. Following the relative’s steps, they make music that fits in the MPB genre but has influences from other Brazilian sounds, such as samba and axé, besides having names like Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque as references in the music industry.
Their first EP, “Várias Queixas”, was released in 2019 and was a huge success among the newly acquired fans of the group. The song that names the album is the most popular of the band until today, surpassing the 50-million-plays mark on Spotify, a repercussion that the band didn’t expect on their first official musical project. Gilson’s latest release, “Pra Gente Acordar”, is an evolution of everything they’ve been doing so far, and deepens their influences from Bahia’s culture and sonority. The production was put out this year, has 9 tracks and it’s the group’s first studio album.
Mariana Froes
The 18-year-old singer and songwriter Mariana Froes is a newborn in the music industry. She became notorious after posting a Youtube cover of the song “Girassóis de Van Gogh”, by the Brazilian R&B singer Baco Exú do Blues, in 2018. The video has over 40 million views, and received positive feedback that inspired her to start making her own music. When it comes to Mariana’s songs, she put out her first two singles in 2019, “Moça” and “Rosa e Laranja”, talking about her love and devotion for a not so corresponded love interest with her soft but very powerful voice.
She grew up listening to all kinds of music genres, from indie-pop and rock to samba and bossa nova, which has a big influence on her own work nowadays. The diversity of references she has allows her to play around different styles in her personal productions, while keeping a singular identity for herself. Her latest release, “Mais Uma Canção Pra Você”, is a samba that talks about a love-hate relationship between Mariana and an old love that she can’t seem to let go.
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The article above was edited by Nicoly Bastos.
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