The singer and songwriter Isabella Lembo launches, on July 29, the unreleased single “Seu Jogo”. With a characteristic velvety tone, the paulistana is inspired by her own experiences to compose welcoming songs about maturing and the arrival of adulthood. With a recent career, the artist presented her first song in April, “Quem Eu Sou”.
Composer since the age of 13, she graduated in Popular Music from Faculdade Santa Marcelina and attended Berklee College of Music, in Massachusetts. In 2021, she drew attention for her script and performance in the musical monologue “5 Fases Para Superar Um Término”, which received a nomination at Rio Web Fest, one of the largest web series festivals in the world. Isabella Lembo is a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and actress. Check out the interview!
Interestingly, you are inspired by your own experiences to compose songs that aim to talk a little about maturation and all the issues of adulthood. Amid this mix of creativity, ‘Seu Jogo’ was born, a recently released song that talks about a toxic relationship, a subject much debated these days. Given all the facts, do you believe that talking about the topic through art impacts people? How has your music been received by your audience?
I believe that being able to identify with or even express feelings that we often can’t speak very well, is one of the greatest powers that the song has. I wrote this song just to try to better understand what I was feeling… And when I released “Seu Jogo”, one of the things that impressed me the most was the amount of people who told me that they identified with my music in some way. I felt happy to have created something that could help people, but mainly because they felt the will and openness to share their own experiences with me.
Despite a recent career, you bring songs with very strong and impacting lyrics that convey a different air from other singers today. In your view, how do you define your work so far? And how do you expect your career to be 5 years from now?
First, thanks for your words! My work is totally focused on the relationship between my life, my experiences and my desire that my songs can help in some way people who identify with it. I think it’s amazing the power that a song has to make us feel less lonely… In 5 years I really hope to have a community of people who identify with my lyrics and be able to live entirely from music.
A theme often addressed in his compositions is precisely the migration of the characteristics of maturation, which shows the arrival of adulthood, and with that, came the album project “Quem Eu Sou”. How did the context of this project come about and how has its production been?
I wrote these songs between 2020 and 2021. In this period, in addition to being at home dealing with our feelings, I was going through my final years in music college. So, I had this feeling that I was “growing up” and still had to deal with issues that I had gone through but hadn’t processed very well. And all the songs I’m releasing are somehow connected to the theme of coming of age. Now, “Quem Eu Sou” is the song that synthesizes this entire universe. While it brings this feeling of wanting to live new things and discover new versions of myself, I wanted to honor and “keep the other isabella’s” that exist in me.
Also known in psychology as gaslighting, toxicity in romantic relationships is something that affects not only young adults but also people at different stages of life, and which unfortunately recurs several times. Did the question of choosing this approach to your new music have anything to do with your life? How do you see the situation that women usually go through in these cases and in your opinion, could these relationships also affect men?
Yes, I was inspired by personal experiences I went through to write “Your Game”. Toxic and/or abusive relationships can exist in many ways… It can be a romantic relationship, as well as a professional or even family relationship. And that’s the most difficult, anyone can be the victim or executioner.
A detail about the composition of “Your Game” was precisely to try to understand what was happening at a certain moment in his life. Looking at this point, do you see music as a possible form of therapy in your life, going beyond a profession?
Certainly! First of all, I fell in love with songwriting, when the songs I listened to explained what I couldn’t say. So, I started writing songs to try to understand my feelings and, today, I continue writing and now releasing my compositions to welcome people who identify with my lyrics and experiences, taking it into their own lives.
In addition to all your performance in this new single, one of the producers that was together with you was Rique Azevedo. How was your work together and what did you identify most with his work?
Co-producing “Seu Jogo” with Rique Azevedo was an amazing experience! I had admired his work for some time, and the best part of going through this process with him was being able to create and imagine arrangements together. He was very respectful of my vision as an artist and musician, at the same time he put his references. I learned a lot in this process about recording in the studio and about myself as well.
Commenting on the music video, a very striking detail for the visual context was the color palette that brings shades of black, white and brown. What made you choose these choices and how do they help in the message that “Your Game” intends to convey?
The idea of making the entire clip revolve around a few colors came from the concept of this toxic relationship, which feels more like being trapped in a game. On a board there are no shades of gray. There are white squares, black squares and pieces of the same colors. Originally we even recorded a “colorful” scene, but together with Novelo Produções (who produced the clip with me), we realized that it didn’t make sense within the story we were telling.
Graduated in popular music and having studied at Berklee College of Music, in Massachusetts, her compositions came from when she was 13 years old, and today she has received festival nominations for some works as an actress, as was the case of “5 Phrases to Overcome One”. Termination”. How did acting and music come to you and how do they complement each other in your career today?
Acting has always been something that I loved and that intrigues me a lot. I decided to take a professional theater course when I was in music school, and the two universes crossed a lot. After all, when we sing a song, we are creating and putting ourselves in that character’s shoes. Today I see how important it is for my singing career to also be an actress. Besides the fact that I love acting and I really want to get back into theater too.
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*With Andrezza Barros