The singer, composer and music producer from Rio de Janeiro IIGOR reflects dreams and expectations, contrasting the moment of peace in which he finds himself with the chaos of the world in “mirage”, a track that anticipates his debut album. The song combines synths and guitars with beats inspired by reggaeton, bringing a contemporary and Latin American approach. This is a release from the Eu Te Amo Records label.
IIGOR, who previously signed as Kanagawa, is in a new phase of his career, exploring the sound in Portuguese and drinking from the source of MPB classics and the contemporary scene. He is currently finishing the album “casa”, where the artist will combine his training in architecture to create a metaphor for the different moments of life, each track representing a part of this home.
With musical production by Pedro Serapicos, “miragem” is the song that closes the album and summarizes this concept. “casa” will be released soon by the São Paulo independent label and producer Eu Te Amo Records, a label for indie names such as Meyot, Roterdan and André Ribeiro. IIGOR’s work is available on all digital music platforms.
You went from signing as Kanagawa to IIGOR and are exploring the sound in Portuguese. How has this change of name and focus affected your approach to music and your identity as an artist?
First of all, I would really like to thank PopSize United Kingdom, El Madrid, Joie de Vivre for the space to talk more about my art. Changing my signature turned my artistic life upside down. I now realize that having a pseudonym and singing in a language other than my mother tongue took me away from understanding and transmitting what I was feeling or thinking.
Choosing my own name and my mother tongue allowed me to see greater ownership over my career and this allowed me to write in a much more sincere way.
“Miragem” seems to be a song that reflects deeply on dreams and reality. Can you share the inspiration behind the lyrics and music?
“miragem” was the first song I wrote after I realized that I needed to make music in Portuguese, maybe that’s why I have such a strong attachment to it. When I quote in the song ‘if the sun looks at me, I stop looking for stars’, that was the way I felt, as if I was in the dark, not knowing which direction to go and just looking for a beam of light to get me out of there, that’s all about feeling the heat of the sun.
Your album “home” seems to be a metaphor for the different moments in life. Can you give us a glimpse into how you use music to represent these different parts of this metaphorical “home”?
I like to create many analogies about what the ‘home’ album is, in general it is an album of 9 songs that today I realize that I “owed” it to myself, when I was younger and thought about making music, I remember that I wanted to create the sound I managed to achieve on this album, it’s a very clear synthesis of everything I’ve ever heard, I currently see that this house is a metaphor for my heart.
“Miragem” is a song that seems to reflect a duality between moments of personal peace and the chaos of the world. Can you share more about the inspiration behind this track and how it relates to your album’s theme of “home”?
When I made this song it was a turbulent time, I didn’t really know what to do with my sound, I was still attached to some old standards that I already thought didn’t fit anymore. From there I started writing, and it flowed so well that I realized it could be a direction, despite all the doubts I found which path to follow, especially in terms of sound, and it made me investigate further what that sound was, thankfully I I did this because it made me have this record in my hands.
Exploring the sound of the Portuguese language and incorporating elements of MPB is an interesting choice. How do you see this new direction affecting your music?
I always listened to Brazilian music, but I never knew how to incorporate it into the songs I made in English, so that it would be genuine. It was by choosing to write in Portuguese that I realized how to fit the phonemes, the rhymes, and then a new field opened up to be explored. , all the references I had started to make sense in what I was doing.
You mentioned that the album “home” will be released soon. What can listeners expect from this work in terms of style and message?
It’s an album that I felt complete in the process of it, I managed to combine my professional training as an architect with the visual arts of the album, and in doing so I understood that these two sides of me are driven by the force of ‘creating’, being able to synthesize my references and reflections to develop narratives.
I allowed myself to be vulnerable like I’ve never been before, I talked about love, expectations, reflections, everything is recorded there, it was a long process of maturity and emotional, artistic and even technical self-knowledge.
His background in architecture plays a role in the design of the “home” album. Can you tell us more about how this training influenced your music and your artistic approach?
I always had difficulty understanding how I could connect these two areas that are so present in my life, and using the tools that architecture gave me, I was able to think of this concept of this house, the proposal is that each song has a room as a representative visual, in this way the songs gained another visual tool to tell this story.
Do you know when you receive a visitor and the first thing to do is show the entire house? So, it was exactly how I wanted to present my album, only in this case I present my feelings. Puns aside, I felt “at home” developing this idea.
Tell us a little about your partnership with the independent label Eu Te Amo Records. How did this collaboration come about and what does it mean to you?
I’ve been a huge admirer of Eu Te Amo Records for a long time, both the work they do and the artists who collaborate with them. I was lucky enough to make friends with the staff and we immediately had a genuine connection. When I started to get hints of what the album would become and started showing it to them, I realized that they had a great affection for the project, so I believed that we would have a sincere and fair exchange when doing this process together. And I was right.
How would you describe the independent music scene in Brazil today? What are the challenges and opportunities for artists like you?
I think the current scenario is turbulent for independent artists, nowadays we have a lot of information in the palm of our hands and it is increasingly necessary for artists to understand all the processes and be very versatile. It’s a double-edged sword because at the same time that we have so much resources, we also run the risk of easily getting lost in the middle of it all. Nothing is a guarantee of anything, but I believe that being honest with one’s art is still the path that works most in the artist’s favor.
What does the future hold for IIGOR? Are there any other exciting projects or collaborations you would like to share with us?
I’m always producing, including for future projects, but for now I want to give my full attention to this work, release all the songs with the care they deserve, produce music videos and of course, perform live, but that’s for a little while. . I really wanted to thank you for the space so I could talk better about this project that means so much to me. I hope I can return here with new information to share with you.
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