Vanessa da Mata criticizes the devaluation of Brazilian artists: ‘We have bad self -esteem’

Vanessa da Mata, 49, does not conform to the cultural erasure that, according to her, still marks Brazil. In an interview with F5 After her presentation with the Heliópolis Symphony Orchestra, on Wednesday (23), in São Paulo, the singer made a vent about how the country usually treats her own artists.

“We have a very bad self -esteem. The Brazilian still follows a construction of colonized pattern. A craze to value only what is from the outside.” For her, this view still directly affects the way the public consumes art in their daily lives. “At shows, they often told me that they thought my lyrics were written by another artist, outside. It’s embarrassing,” he says.

The presentation at the Bradesco Theater brought together hits from the Vanessa repertoire, accompanied by musicians from the outskirts of São Paulo. She says that the experience of dividing the stage with the orchestra brought special meaning. “I felt a little part of them,” he says, remembering his own trajectory.

“I came from a very small city in Mato Grosso, without any perspective. I built my career alone. I know exactly what it is to have few opportunities.” Vanessa also points out that seeing the talent of these young people and being next to them was like reliving the beginning of their own walk in music.

The artist also comments on the pressure she feels to adapt to social networking formats, especially Tiktok, which values short and immediate consumption content.

For her, this logic goes against her essence as a composer. “I don’t know how to make short music. Maybe even know, but I don’t want to compose just to surf the wave of the crowd. I’m not interested in that.”

She says her creative process is linked to narrative, the development of ideas and feelings in each song. “I’m very talkative. My lyrics are long because I like to tell stories. If they left, I would make each song a book.”

Vanessa says she understands market changes, but refuses to shape her art just to meet algorithms. “Music needs to remain depth space, not just performance.”

Talking about her career as a woman, the singer also reveals what she calls a “difficult female legacy”. She says she carries deep marks of a delicate family history, both in her own experience and in the history of her family. “The history is very heavy,” he says, without going into detail.

This baggage, he says, drives her to fight injustices and inequalities. “Everything that involves women is going through me. I’m restless, I can’t stop.”

This restlessness also comes to light when it comes to the political role of artists. Vanessa believes that each person positions himself in his own way, but emphasizes his own involvement. “I’m all the time defending Palestine, for example. I saw today a horrible, hideous scene. Not everyone can talk about politics, but I always try to act as I believe.”