(Credit: Felipe Gomes / @felipegrafias)
(CNN Spanish) -
At first glance, the Brazilian singer Luísa Sonza appears as a strong, empowered woman, with many things to say and little fear of expressing her thoughts.
But around him he has built a shell to not allow others to read his feelings.
That protective bubble collapsed with her second record production, "TWELVE 22", which she released at the end of June and which, in its opening week, was the second most played production globally on Spotify, according to the platform said in a Tweet.
. @ luisasonza understood the assignment 🇧🇷🇧🇷 # DOCE22 debuted at # 2 on our Top Global Album Debuts #SpotifyCharts pic.twitter.com/qxxK0q9x4u
- Spotify Charts (@spotifycharts) July 29, 2021
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It is an album of 14 songs, presented in a "retro" way, with an A side and a B side: one more cheerful and the other more reflective, he explains.
"It's like a vinyl record, I did it like that because I thought it was the best way for people to understand me. I feel like I have two sides, I'm Luísa Sonza, the artist, a strong girl who doesn't care what she looks like. people think or say about her. But I also have another side that people did not know, the most introspective, that of a young, vulnerable girl, who suffers with all this exposure, "Sonza told Zona Pop CNN in an interview via Zoom.
A vulnerability that was born, perhaps, thanks to the pandemic, the time when the album was produced.
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Luísa Sonza, composer and producer of her "DOCE 22"
Together with her best friend, Douglas Moda, the singer - one of the leaders of Brazilian pop - wrote and produced the songs, all from the comfort of her home.
It could not be otherwise, that is how the coronavirus pandemic forced them to work.
"
TWELVE 22
is a very personal album. I wrote all the songs, I also produced them together with my best friend Douglas Moda. It's an album [in which I show myself] vulnerable, that's why it's so important to me. It took 14 months, [ I worked it] during the pandemic. My friend [Moda] lived in my house, we did everything in my house. That's why it's so personal, a little introspective in some songs, "Sonza told Zona Pop CNN.
Opening up like this was a challenge, says the artist.
The fear existed within him.
His exposure in networks is wide and with that also unwanted comments.
The artist has more than 24 million followers on Instagram, more than 3 million on Twitter, 4.4 million followers on Facebook and 6.7 million subscribers on YouTube.
"Yes, it was difficult [to show myself vulnerable]. I am a reserved person, I don't like to show my feelings. My sign is cancer so I have a breastplate and I don't let anyone approach me and [see] my fragility. It was difficult but at the same time it served as an outlet. Although it was difficult, it was inevitable. "
Even though she initially did not think that the coronavirus pandemic was a factor for that opening, the singer acknowledges that perhaps it had something to do with it.
The situation exposed feelings of fear, frustration and uncertainty on a global level and caused some people to open up about situations such as mental health.
Even more so in Brazil, one of the countries in the world hardest hit by covid-19, and which remains among the five countries with the most infections and deaths as a result of the disease.
"It was a difficult moment for everyone and I think it was a moment in which we needed to look at ourselves from the inside and for me it was no different," Sonza tells Zona Pop CNN.
And although the coronavirus generated great self-analysis that led some to discover facets of themselves, Sonza assures that she already knew perfectly that "disaster" that ended in record production.
"I think I knew all this. But I had the courage to put it on the album," confesses the singer.
(Credit: Felipe Gomes / @felipegrafias)
Sexuality as female power
Some of the songs on "TWELVE 22" speak very explicitly about women's sexuality, about their sexuality.
Something that is frequently discussed in the lyrics not only of the Brazilian singer, but of various representatives of the urban genre.
According to Sonza, this controversy that being so open can generate is a sign of fear in her male counterpart.
"I think she's afraid of us because our power is incredible, it's amazing. We women are the most beautiful creation in the world and everyone tries to take that power away from us. Our sexuality is a power. We create life, you know? Femininity is beautiful and people try to take this away from us. We don't have to accept it. They are afraid of us because we are incredible, "the singer told Zona Pop CNN.
The struggle over gender equality and freedom to express her thoughts goes beyond the lyrics of her songs.
He assures that it is a reality that is palpable not only in the music industry but in general in his country, Brazil.
"I love my country, I love our culture, I think it is the best place in the world but we have big problems and sexism is one of them. We have a difficult road [to travel] regarding sexism. In the music industry it is the same. We have suffered a lot here in Brazil, women as artists, or whatever else, we go through things that men do not experience, "she says.
"Everyone judges us nonsense, they hate us because we talk about our sexuality or because we don't. It's difficult to talk about it because [the criticisms] don't make sense. They try to pigeonhole us, that we be what they want us to be," he adds. singer.
Your dream collaborations
Something that characterizes this new generation of female singers is the openness they have to unite their voices, to collaborate, to be a united group within an industry that still has a long way to go to achieve gender equality.
The singer has already collaborated with one of the Brazilian superstars, Anitta, for the song "Modo turbo", with which she also had the voice of Pabllo Vittar.
For Sonza, language is not an impediment when it comes to music.
"I love Latin music, we are an incredible culture, even if we have a different language ... This represents us. I would love [to collaborate] with many singers: with Karol G, I love her ... I want to do a song with her; Natti Natasha, Becky G, María Becerra ... I also love Paloma Mami and Nathy Peluso. It would be great to get together ", says the singer.
Luísa SonzaMúsica Zona Pop