Brazilian Pop: Time For A Comeback? - Thinkpiece
For many people, the Brazilian music scene is just too far away to care about. In fact, it's an unspoken excuse that plagues the popular music of the UK and US - we're at the centre of global culture, why would we bother to look outside of it? Thankfully, this stubborn attitude has been changing over the last decade, with the rise of two now ubiquitous music scenes impossible to ignore. Reggaetón and K-Pop. In fact, it's arguable today that Latin and Korean music is the biggest it has ever been, the sweltering success of artists like Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Kali Uchis and more even influencing many US Americans to take the dive into those reggaetón beats, whether they posses Latin heritage or not. Perhaps the same is not yet true of Korean pop, but that doesn't mean their influence is not felt, albeit in different ways. BTS isn't just the biggest boyband now, they're the biggest boyband ever - and this increasingly globalised music industry isn't slowing down.
A question that's been haunting my mind for the last year however is this: where did the Brazilians go? Whether you're counting them as Latin American or not, you'd have a hard time refuting the simple fact that the music they make is just as summery and lively as that in Colombia, Cuba and of course Puerto Rico. More than that, Carnival in Rio remains a global staple that attracts millions of tourists every year, so what exactly is it that's keeping this country from dominating in the "Western" markets? Well, for this we'll have to take a look at what's going on within Brazil, and at the three major reasons that Brazilian music just isn't having the resurrection it deserves.
First is the popularity of sertanejo. Often referred to as Brazilian country music, this style has dominated over the last three decades since its commercialisation in the 80s, its countryside and isolated themes somewhat antithetical to the constant partying along the coasts or the political hustle and bustle of the cities, and yet it is the style that has dominated popular conscience over every other genre, and has resulted in a far more homogenous music scene in Brazil in recent years, lacking the diversity and ranged influences that always made its music so fresh and exciting. Does this mean the style is somehow inferior or a devolution? Well, that's up to you. What it does mean is that Brazil has been far less concerned with the outside world than ever before.
This self-focused attitude is, of course, mirrored in the country's politics. Ever the outsider of the South American continent, Brazil may have the largest economy by far but it has been consistently uninterested in collaborating with its neighbours, fiercely independent but still not the strong leader they've often been projected to be. Perhaps this is part of the reason for such a lack of representation for Brazilian music at the global stage, a combination of the rural focus and international reluctance that keeps their industry from flowering in the same way that Colombia's has in recent years. It's a statement that you could certainly get away with saying, although it doesn't take into account the full picture, and a final fact that, at least for me, completes the puzzle.
You see, when streaming came to Brazil, it took a while to gain traction. Big companies like Spotify and Deezer arriving later in Brazil than many of its neighbouring countries, whilst iTunes was (for a while) limited to those with foreign credit cards. In fact, as continually proven to be the case, it's YouTube that has been the most favourable service for the discovery and promotion of music on a more local level, and at a time of industry decline as the rest of the world had long since moved to digital, at a time where the dominating genre fit the glove perfectly with the rural-focused sertanejo, a style that was ignored by major labels and subsequently received little exposure to non-Brazilian audiences.
This is beginning to change. In 2018, Brazil experienced its first year with digital as the primary medium of musical consumption and sales, ranking 10th in world markets, but with the music still so internally focused, still neglected by the major labels. In Brazil however, as is true around the world, smaller labels and independent releases are surging in popularity, and Brazil is one country where streaming has helped to reinvigorate the industry, numbers soaring and artists ready for a big break rising in parallel. What else happened in 2018? Well...
Jair Bolsonaro and his far right government were elected into office, something not especially surprising given the resurgence that right-wing parties are currently experiencing across the globe. For Brazil though, this was a marked difference, and something of a return to the control and conservatism in the 50s and 60s, a time when the country became synonymous with two of its most famous exports - the corporate calm of bossa nova, and the bizarre response of Tropicália, a controversial, expressionist and boundary pushing form of psychedelia, focused on confronting the status quo and projecting human rights and freedom. If you look at what's happening in Brazilian pop right now, you'll be confronted by a startling parallel in terms of themes and messaging, but the medium has (of course) wildly changed.
Where Tropicália was abrasive and unpredictable, boldly fusing the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of samba with the experimentation of UK and US psychedelia, also often incorporating instruments from jazz and traditional folk, the perfect way to retain their unique identity and displaying their dissatisfaction and hunger for change. Rejected en masse by the left and the right, Tropicália's two central figures were actually arrested and exiled to London, but despite the movement coming to a swift end, its presence is still felt today. This, of course, brings us to the genre of carioca funk, and to Brazil's biggest artist right now, Anitta.
Despite being such a culturally diverse and yet distinctive place, Brazil has the highest police brutality rates of anywhere in the world, and it is the large black and pardo groups who are the most significantly affected by this, and it's in the carioca funk scene that issues like racism, freedom and inequality are brought to the forefront of the social conscience, the same way they were in the late 60s. It's a style of hip hop that undeniably shares a lot with neighbouring Latin countries' reggaetón scenes, but one with something of a distinct twist and revolves far more around an often curiously unique drop after the chorus, but one that couldn't be further from the played out and underwhelming drops of EDM and future bass.
Aside from a few international artists who've set brought carioca funk influences to their songs on occasion, there is really only one artist who's experienced a significant amount of crossover at the global stage, including her first song to reach the Billboard Top 100 in the US last year in the form of "Me Gusta". Yes, I'm finally getting the chance to talk about Anitta, the woman who's been making strides as both a feminist and bisexual, becoming one of the loudest voices in Brazil, to speak for the marginalised and overlooked and pave the way for a country that is more accepting and progressive when it comes to social issues. If with the release of her upcoming album Girl From Rio she is able to continue to push her career forward to a more international audience, to finally receive the payoff and success from all her high profile collaborations and nationally huge hits, then perhaps she can break down the fence and allow for more Brazilian singers and rappers to make it in the UK and US. I certainly hope so.
For many people, the Brazilian music scene is just too far away to care about. For me, that's what makes it so joyfully intriguing.
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