JULIA MESTRE - Maravilhosamente bem

Everything's going just fine at Julia Mestre's place. Actually, it's going wonderfully well, judging by the title she gave her third album. So well, in fact, that the frontwoman of Bala Desejo, one of the finest outfits in contemporary Brazilian popular music, has delivered her most accomplished project yet, perfect proof that even when you're not trying to escape the Eighties, there's a right way and a wrong way to put them to good use. Reining in the more local influences and bossa nova touches that had characterized the previous "Arrepiada", the Carioca musician and actress channels her natural expressive elegance into an album of sensual, refined sophisti-pop, full of hazy electric vibrations and plush disco-boogie touches, romantic just enough and nocturnal when it needs to be. It's a blueprint that had some absolutely first-rate interpreters in the Brazilian Eighties, and one that "Maravilhosamente bem" presents in all its undying freshness, tied inextricably to a creative mind that reworks its spirit for these strange 2020s. That's exactly how everything can keep going well.

Don't let yourself be swayed by the winking soft-rock, all funk nods and orchestral flourishes, of the title track, which opens the dance with its brisk, danceable shapes, or by the beguiling garage-house nerve of "Veneno da serpente", where Mestre convincingly slips into the role of dancefloor diva. Deeply in love and moved, especially when it comes to her guiding lights (Rita Lee in the boogie midtempo "Sou fera", Marina Lima making her appearance in the hypnotic groove of "Marinou, limou"), the artist actually shows off her talent as a balladeer, a clever weaver of slow numbers and torch-songs tailored to her subtle voice, eloquent even with the sparest of arrangements. She sounds positively celestial in the anything-but-ethereal tale of "Vampira" (a slow burn in which she also shows off a fine command of Spanish), gripped by desire in the most shimmering of nocturnes ("Pra lua"), before a new romance carries her away, into the depths of the ocean ("Canto da sereia"). And when the time comes to linger over tradition, the two-part bossa of "Sentimento blues" is reread in light of the project's pervasive soulfulness, a nostalgic refrain to be stubbed out like the next cigarette.

Too much sugar? Not at all: there's enough character in Julia Mestre's recipe to ward off any hyperglycemic drift. It's all a matter of balance and lessons learned, which the musician puts to use on a record that's poignant in its refinement. Everything's fine, even with a touch of melancholy thrown in.

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07/01/2026