Just one of the many things I absolutely love about this album is the fact that you are existing in such a free, creative space.
You start in this beautiful, sorry, Louisa Sanze, everybody.
It's kind of like... Nice to meet you.
I still haven't figured out how to do intros, because I just hear the music and I want to just talk immediately about it.
The album starts in such a beautiful, deep, nurturing, immersive, kind of almost dark place.
And then we're just all over the place, BPM running, chasing, grabbing.
And I love it.
So I want to say thank you for this record.
I think it's brilliant.
And you must be very proud of it.
Oh, thank you so much.
But first of all, thank you for inviting me.
This is incredible.
So nice to meet you.
And yeah, Brutal Paraíso is like my favorite work.
And till today, like I'm obsessed by this album.
We like, like go around the world, like traveling and finding sounds and music and people and culture.
And it was very special, all this process.
You can hear it.
And how was it when you came back with these ideas, these songs?
I mean, it feels to me like sometimes you're taking part of that song and part of that song and putting them together.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah.
It doesn't feel like you're like okay, now we're going to do something that's 30 beats per minute faster and change key completely.
It's like, no, just grab it, do it, cut, paste.
Yeah, yeah.
How was it when you had everything collected and you started to really make sense of it in some capacity?
Yeah i, i think it was like i was trying to uh escape from myself, like about the to just do totally different than my last album before it's gonna win.
Because when, like an artist tried to repeat like a thing or a formula,
I don't believe in this way of working, of art.
So I was like okay, after this Candelo Íntimo, what can i do?
Like it's gonna launch, was a big big thing.
And i was like okay, i just don't want to repeat myself and try to like do a formula or something.
And then i was like okay, i'm just gonna do music, i just gonna do some songs along whatever, and i'm gonna see what it will.
It will appear like how do i say that?
But i was just okay, just do it like, just be creative, just don't push yourself to like repeat yourself, repeat.
I know you know what i mean i do.
And the thing about that louisa, so interesting is, is i don't think when these albums become successful and this album is is doing wonderful things for you globally as well, which is beautiful people don't realize the courage it takes in the at the moment when you make that decision, because you're sitting on success.
You've worked your whole life to achieve as much success and reach as many people as you can.
Then to sit there and go, you know, I'm gonna take the biggest risk of all.
Because it could backfire.
People could go, we don't like this, Louise.
So I guess the question is do you acknowledge now in yourself that you are somebody who is willing to take the risk rather than consolidate all the success you have?
It's okay if you lose it as long as you stay true to yourself.
Yeah, I think that's the real key, the real way to have a big career, not just big hits.
I think it's a huge difference to have a lot of songs like top one or top or whatever, and it's different when you do a thing, not thinking about the this moment right now, but like forever.
You know this album is gonna be mine forever I can, I cannot, run away from it.
Yeah, so you need to be something that I'm not regret, like in 50 years or something.
Yeah, so Yeah obviously, it's very like.
I felt many times like, oh my God, am I doing the right thing?
I could do like something easier to to understand or like repeat some things that I know it will like work or whatever, or like I don't know.
I'm gonna find many collaborations and I'm gonna do like all the album, like with featuring someone, and it's gonna be easy, like it's gonna be, you know, like we have these formulas, but in 50 years I will like this, I will be proud of me.
So I think Brutal Paraíso was the moment that I was like Is there a moment to do that or is maybe I never gonna be able to do this, like just do my thing, you know.
Well, it's also about creating memories as well.
It's not, you know, if you lean into the formula, there's no learning and there's no experience.
And now, whenever you hear these songs, the one part of the trade that we don't get.
We get the music and we get to apply it to our life.
But you get to remember where you were when you made that song or you're inspired by that song.
It becomes your memories, which I think is, like that's the most special part, I think, for the artist, isn't it?
To go like I got to live it.
Yeah, i love that part because we like, as i, as i told you uh, we traveled the world to do this album.
Where did you go, like?
Where did you go?
We went to like, obviously here, los angeles, but we went to europe korea, like brazil, obviously.
How cool is seoul, by the way?
Isn't seoul amazing incredible, incredible.
I love it yeah, and it's so good to see two things obviously, new culture, new people, like new sounds, but also how people abroad see brazil.
I think the the name of brutal paradise that is, but in portuguese, the name of the album.
It is about like, the way i saw people abroad seeing me and seeing brazil in the way i see brazil.
Can you elaborate a little more, because you sum it up beautifully and succinctly with the album title, but i'd love more of an explanation what that perception is from people don't know.
I think, like brazil is definitely a, definitely a paradise.
It's tropical, it's incredible, but it is also brutal.
Like i live in sao paulo many years and one of my friends, like a lot of many of them, came to my house and like, arrived in Sao Paulo and asked me like okay, where is the beach?
Where is the, the, the florist and everything.
I was like, no, he was just Where's the postcard?
I want what's on the postcard.
In São Paulo it's just like constructions.
It's brutal.
We are not just one thing.
We are much more than.
And we are so mixed.
We have a lot of rhythms, a lot of culture.
We are a whole world. in a country.
If Brazil was just what was on the postcard, you wouldn't have this.
And you wouldn't have the music and the rhythms that have changed, music which come from struggle and come from energy and come from danger.
Yeah, it is a big mess.
I didn't say that, by the way.
No, but I'm a mess and I like to be a mess.
I think it's sometimes.
Obviously, I wish I'd be more like perfect, but I'm not.
It's impossible to me.
So I was like, okay, I need to be good about who I am.
So that's it.
That requires a lot of work.
It doesn't just happen.
Jesus.
Yeah, he'll help.
She, he, who doesn't really matter.
But at the end of the day, you know, it requires you to dig deep and to find out who you are in real time.
And art is great for that.
It allows you to search deep and discover things.
Just be messy, right?
Yeah, just be messy and accept that sometimes.
I feel much better when I hear those things, really.
I was like it's so insane for me when people like doing music or like even like talking, talking things about music.
I was like it's like oh, you should do this rhythm or you should be in this box.
Oh why you're doing this and not that you should do it.
Somehow it's the way you need to be, The way you need to talk, the way you need to do.
No, you cannot.
And for me, music and art is literally the opposite.
When I'm at the studio or at the concert, at the show, i think like i can do whatever i want here, like obviously we live in a society so we need to respect people and and all those things.
But when we are doing art it's totally creative.
You can like dream nightmare, everything.
You want it, you can put it because it's not real, so you can create.
You can like play around.
I love that.
Do you ever?
Do you ever?
Do you ever dance with with the lion?
Though, when you're in the studio and you're creating something and you feel something that you want to express And it's a thought, it's a dark thought, it's a human thought.
Are there times when you're like oh man, you know, I don't know if I can sing that.
Should I write that?
All the time.
And how do you feel when you cross that line and you let it go?
Ah, it's the best feeling ever.
I love it when I like write something and I feel like embarrassed or something, but I like okay, just put it out.
And then I do it and I feel that I see the reaction of my friends.
It's always like something, an experience, you know?
And also like, I changed some of the lyrics because in this album, I tried to be very like raw.
And obviously being raw sometimes is too much.
And then I put it all of like okay, I'm going to do this lyric in this way and it's going to be like this
It's very dark and blah, blah, blah.
And then like, let's just clean it up a little bit and it's okay.
Just to preserve a little bit of what you want to keep for yourself as well, right?
Because at the end of the day, you have an enormously large fan base of people who love you.
Tens of millions, 30 million followers on Instagram alone.
I think it's hard to not have a little voice in your mind.
That's like keep that for yourself yes, and also to protect people as well.
Like somehow we have this responsibility, like to Maybe I can understand what I wanted to say, but sometimes people cannot or can't understand.
It's such a good point, Luisa, because I've spoken to so many amazing artists throughout my life who have such a different take on that. like like some people feel like you do where it's like there's a way you can do both you can express your truth but also not take someone along for the ride right yeah but then some people i've spoken to are like whoever's with me whoever's in my life has to acknowledge that that i'm going to tell my truth and that is just how it is and i haven't kind of figured out which one is the right one I think I have my moments like obviously in the beginning of one specific song that I changed the lyric I'm gonna sing today Sonda Despedida I changed it like in the beginning I didn't agree because I was like it's my art they should understand and blah blah blah and in the other another like other hand, I was like, deep down, I know that maybe you can be you still gonna be true to yourself you're saying what you wanted to say about the song and you are like expressing your feelings and your fears and blah blah blah but you don't need to be so raw in a point that maybe can it could be cruel yeah it could be cruel to i don't want to like hurt people you know what i mean that's growth i mean that's amazing wow you've what a life you've lived already i mean it's it's been brutal paradise is is life in itself for everybody to some degree And people see the success and they see the adoration, they see the joy you get from creating your art, but you're not without your experiences and things that hurt you along the way.
I mean, you've made multiple albums now.
How kind are you to your younger self and the experiences that you went through?
And do you allow yourself to heal as you go?
Or are you saving that for a later date?
I think Brutal Paradise was the process to be kind to my youngest self.
I think in Brutal Paradise, I like i have how do i say that?
Like i held me.
You held your hand yeah, that's it.
I held my hand and i was like okay girl, you were just a girl, it's okay.
Uh, you like your, your health, your mental health, your life, it's okay.
You like, many times, you just was too young to understand what was happening in your life.
Like I came, I was born in a very, very small city and, like I was, obviously I was so stupid sometimes.
You know, I started my career, like in Brazil, and I was 17 and everything starts to be crazy and i was like totally lost.
And we like, because maturity doesn't come along for the ride with success, they're like yeah, no.
And it's like oh, you're here.
And you're like wait, this is going at its own pace.
No, totally later, like years later, i was like oh, i will love yeah, To understand that, like 10 years ago, I cannot, but it's impossible.
But it is what it is.
And I think that's why I can write my songs.
I can like be creative because I lived my life very intensive.
I'm a very like, I'm an intense person.
You know what I mean?
Okay.
So how do you counter that intensity?
Because life is all about finding balance, right?
And sitting in the moment and it's a total lifelong practice.
Yeah.
Unless you go sit on top of a mountain in a monastery somewhere and maybe you can just do that.
I don't But for me, it's like, I can't do that.
I have to practice every day.
So how do you apply the opposite of intensity in your life?
What do you search for to create calm therapy?
So good, i love it.
And i think my friends, my family, and are they?
How can they be honest with you?
Really honest, very honest okay yeah no, they can they?
Your family oh yeah yeah, of course I can imagine.
Can I be honest?
Yeah, okay.
I've known you for 17 minutes.
Can I be brutally honest with you?
Can I be brutal to you right now?
Literally, I'm just gonna go in right now.
You'd be like, this guy is a lot.
I was like, okay, okay.
We are intensive.
But yeah, people who are, who are?
Yeah, who is?
Yeah, who are honest with you.
Yeah, we're honest with me, with me and say things that I don't want to hear it or but I think me.
I always like I'm the more the brutalist person I ever On yourself.
Impossible.
Yeah.
Your hardest on yourself.
I think I'm hardest to myself, but in a good way.
You need to be.
You do need to be, but that's a form of insanity as well.
You know what I mean?
Like I can relate to that.
There's something in the creative arts, I think, where people set the bar highest for themselves.
Yeah.
You've achieved and succeeded and done so many amazing things.
You've arrived at this point where this album is the most honest and true version of yourself.
We're excited to hear you play some songs soon.
But I'm not going to actually interrupt this conversation if it's cool, because I'm having a really good time talking with you and getting to know you.
Um, tell us a little bit about what it's like being successful at home and how people respond to you, and from you know the intensity of success, right through to the vulnerability and the joy of pride.
How is life being in brazil being sponsored?
Whoa, it's a good question.
I don't know it's something because Brazil is such a specific place and such like incredible place with incredible people.
And we love and we hate and we say everything.
We are like.
We are definitely strong and very.
It's like be famous in Brazil.
I don't know how to explain to you, but it's like, it's brutal, but it's a paradise.
Can you still feel free there?
Can you experience the joys and freedoms of life that you see people around you enjoying?
I think it's the same as home.
You know what I mean?
I love my country.
I love to see... I was playing Coachella and see the Brazilians there.
We help each other.
We can be like kind of like in a way that I never see in my life another place in the world.
I only met amazing people from yeah, like I don't know.
We are so like we are warm, you know what I mean like we're just warm yeah, and if we see like a Brazilian abroad, we are automatically best friends and we can live a life together.
I got your back, you got mine.
It's like, you're Brazil?
Brazil?
Oh my God, let's go home.
Let's do a barbecue, Brazilian barbecue.
Brazil is literally like a home.
It's like- Even away from home, it feels like home.
Yeah, definitely.
And like be famous there is like be at home.
Like my mom can definitely like love me but, at the same time, be like louisa.
Why you do that?
Like you should not do that?
And brazil, i think, is like this be famous in brazil is like very intense and very like.
Yeah, they'll still check you Yeah, but it's cool.
I love it.
I would choose Brazil like always, always in my life.
You're on the world stage now.
I mean, Coachella is obviously a step in that direction.
The beautiful thing is that your music already exists all over the world and you have fans all over the world.
But you said something really interesting in a conversation which is kind of all over my algorithm right now, where you said performing at Coachella felt like starting again, but you've seemed happy about that.
The idea of having a challenge to go out there and experience something fresh, and not it be the next thing on top of the next thing.
When did you realize that?
Was it after the show?
Was it during the show?
Like, when were you like, wow, this feels unique to me?
I think the moment I started the show, like When I started, the first song talks about tropical paradise.
It's the name of the song.
And I was singing my Brazilian culture, not just Brazilian music, but you're doing the whole Brazilian thing.
And then I was like oh my God, I'm doing something totally different that I ever, I never done this in my life.
It's so incredible to see people who doesn't understand my language or whatever, but they like, were like, they're like, like shaking their ass.
Can I say that?
And like just be... It's a valid reaction.
And I was like, oh, my God, this is so I was like, I just felt like, oh, my God, I'm so Brazilian.
I don't know.
And this is so incredible because I was like okay, I'm a totally different stage, totally different crowd, totally different.
And I still can bring Brazil with me.
What was beautiful?
What I saw was that it was very the choreography and the movement and everything was so dialed in and so tasteful and great.
But I also felt like you were free in the middle of that.
I didn't feel like you were so beholden to every move.
I hate it.
It's like, you guys do all that.
I'm going to do what I'm going to do.
Yeah, i need, as i told you, as i was saying, like i need to be free at this stage and and at the studio, like it's the two places that i like.
Please don't don't, Don't.
Yeah, don't box me in.
Don't box me in.
It's the two places that I hate to stay in a box.
So obviously we do a lot of rehearsals and I know what to do and if I feel that is the moment to do with the dancers or whatever, I do.
But if I felt different in this show... You do your job and I'll do mine.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's it.
It's like I've been in a like.
I started singing like when I was seven in a stage like a wedding band and 10 years working every day um at the stage.
So for me it's like it's the way i'm most like lived my life.
How do I say that?
I didn't realize you'd spent so much time before you even started publishing music and releasing it, developing such a strong work ethic very early on.
What are your strongest memories of that time as a child working in music?
It's kind of tricky, but when you are a child, you just don't realize that.
Just when you grow up.
And then I was like okay, those things were kind of weird, you know, kind of too difficult for just a girl, you know.
But I especially in Brutal Paradise, I realized and I did a song about my life that has eight minutes.
And I love it.
Yeah.
And I I say like that, I'm like, I'm grateful to to be able to sing since I was a child, because this made me who I am right now.
And I, I don't know I felt many artists.
They just don't have the opportunity, doesn't have the opportunity to be to sing for a crowd that doesn't know you like oh, don't even care about you.
So I think I learned how to deal with people.
It's a muscle you can go back to.
Yeah.
And change the sad list, do this, do whatever.
People are like, I can feel the crowd.
They don't need to know me to like my show.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I do.
Now that you're living some life and you've got great experiences and you have a lot of life ahead of you to live and create, if you've come to a better understanding of what motivated you to want to do this at an age where you probably didn't even understand.
You know what I mean?
Like when you're seven years old and you go out and you sing and you like the way it feels, but you don't realize you're on this life's journey and it's going to be this brutal paradise.
You have no idea, right?
No, I had no idea.
And then finding a way to find some answers and heal yourself through the making of this record, which is very clear.
I wonder if you've been able to come to a better understanding about what motivates young people or yourself to want to kind of grab this opportunity.
As a kid, you know to entertain people to reach Yeah, but like how I felt, how I Yeah, like what motivated you to do it.
Why did you?
I don't know.
I just wanted to do it.
And when I did it okay, I want to do it again and again, and again, and again, and again, and I still want to do it again.
Like, you know, I still want to come back to Coachella show and do the second...
I was like, oh, thank God that is not just one weekend.
It's two.
So it's just it's it's.
I don't know why.
It's just, it is what it is.
I cannot be different than I am.
You know what I mean?
So you're going to keep making records, but I'd imagine this album now completely resets everything for you to some degree, because you've done everything you wanted to do all over the world.
So the scope of possibility for you creatively now must just be huge.
Yeah yeah, broke the spell right.
It's like i'm not going to be there for the rest of my life.
Yeah, i'm going to do whatever i wanted yeah yeah, this is important, and i think i was thinking about the albums and brutal paradise.
I was like okay, I did so many things in this album that I'm probably gonna feel I think I feel right now very okay to not do it again, at least not soon.
I feel like a fool.
Yeah, because the body of work is so expansive and full of creativity.
I'd be shocked if you were like, yeah, I'm going in on Monday and knock out another album.
No, not at all.
I'm not going to be close to a studio for many years.
And also you've got to bring this to life, live and honor it, because it's such a dynamic experience and you've got so many shows to do right.
I mean, there's a lot more touring to be done.
Yeah, yeah.
But I was like I don't know, after Scandalo Intimo, not this album, the other one.
I was like okay, I want to do something new.
I like soon, but these with this album is like so many new things there that I I'm just gonna like live my life, do my shows.
I think I'm very like happy and excited to do the Brutal Paradise tour around the world because it's so many things that we can explore in this album.
Are you going to try to go to every single country that you recorded the album in or wrote the album in?
Yeah, we are trying to.
Let's see.
Let's see.
Because it's many countries.
But yeah, we're going to all over Brazil, of course.
And Europe probably... That's stadiums though, right?
I mean, that's ridiculous.
That's like yeah, brazil is a whole country, like it's insane yeah, it's a lot of people yeah yeah okay, before we let you uh, go and prepare to perform.
I just wanted to ask you because i don't feel like i went deep enough here, and i'd love to know about some of your favorite experiences traveling while you were making this record, because it's rare that i talk to someone who does such extensive traveling whilst creating, And what were some of the cities or the experiences that really captured your heart while you were making this album?
Oh my god, so many places.
I think Korea was very special.
What were your impressions?
It's such a different world, a different way of thinking, a different way of living that makes you like i don't know, almost like born again and like see things totally different.
Like, and you, you see, like it's so many truths in the world.
You know, like i love like travel, traveling around the world and understand that like that we are not that important as you think we are, you know what i mean.
Like it's so good to see, i love to go.
Obviously i'm very famous in my country, but like I don't like sometimes to do songs or do my creative part in Brazil because I don't want to feel that I'm important somehow in a room.
I like when I go into a room, like in Korea or whatever, and people don't care about me, like whatever blonde girl.
I love that feeling.
Then I can be just a girl.
And also the creativity is the most important thing.
It's not what you've already achieved.
It's what we're going to create.
That's it.
I don't feel pressure when i'm doing creative things and i'm writing my songs like i don't want to repeat myself.
And sometimes obviously we, we like, go to a studio and people know me or my numbers or whatever, and they're like oh, i want to do this to you, like let's do a big hit blah blah, blah.
Like if I'm thinking like that, it's not gonna make, It's not gonna make you happy.
Yeah.
Not just happy, but not gonna...
Probably not gonna be a hit.
It will not gonna be like this.
It's not the way at least I did my career.
Obviously, I'm very lucky.
I have big numbers and everything, but it's not like it's not a formula, it just you need to be real somehow, you know, especially in a creative part.
You know Luisa, luck definitely plays a role.
It would be foolish for us as human beings, when we're offered, when we run into so many opportunities, whether we choose to take them or not, to not acknowledge the importance of luck.
But you know, you have worked your entire life to get to this place and have made your most creative, most expressive, most interesting album at a time when, to your point, you could have easily just fallen into a nice groove.
So I say that to say you know absolute respect to you for making those decisions and for continuing to entertain yourself, first and foremost.
Have an amazing second weekend at Coachella.
Hey, thank you.
And I really enjoyed getting to know you in this conversation.
I'm looking forward to the next one already.
You're going to come back and perform with us here on the show, which we're very excited about.
Thank you to your team and everyone for coming in and making that possible.
We'll see you on the other side.
It's great to see you.
Lovely to meet you.
Great to see you too.
Yay!
