During this period, I did several collaborative projects. A project at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, a long tour of Brazil with singer Paulinho da Viola. I also released a record and toured with the group Tribalistas (with Arnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown). After all that, I knew it was time to come back to myself, to my solo work and to record the songs that reflected my encounters during this period.
Doors are very symbolic elements, which bring the ideas of opening, transformation, choice, passage, option, decision, closure. These doors can be internal or external. We recorded during the pandemic, the moments of isolation when all we wanted was to find ways out. I wanted to create a playful universe, passages to the imagination, poetic support for these difficult times, to direct us towards a more bearable existence.
The first moments were moments of paralysis and total loneliness. There was no way to meet the musicians. We finally opted for a hybrid system by alternating face-to-face sessions in Rio and remote sessions in Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, New York and Los Angeles. To my surprise, technology has allowed us to experiment with forms of relationships that we would not have tried in any other context, and it worked very well. In this sense, the digital connectivity of the contemporary world has empowered us. Portas is an album with more international collaborations, recorded in more cities, without leaving Rio, but without losing the spirit of the collective.
I think my evolution is manifested by an expansion of my relationship to music. I started with the voice, the song, but little by little, I got involved in the composition and the musical production. I went beyond my own work by composing and producing for other artists, expanding my ways of using music.
If I could have imagined all the things I’ve accomplished in the past 30 years, I wouldn’t have been so ambitious in the dream. I prefer to let it flow, do my best all the time and see how it goes.
Impossible to choose between these three incredible women. I choose them all!
