Céu comes from a musical family from São Paulo. Her sixth album “Novela” was recorded in the USA with the assistance of producers Pupillo and Adrian Young.
Originally issued in 2005 on the São Paulo-based Urban Jungle, Céu was picked up by Six Degrees/Starbucks/Hear Music in the US and UK, JVC in Japan and Harmonia Mundi in Europe. Céu received a Grammy and Latin Grammy nomination for “Best New Artist” of 2006. She is also riding high on a wave of international success in France, where the influential Les Inrockuptibles recognized her as one of the top 5 musical revelations of 2005, Holland, and Italy, as well as in Canada, where she was recently the fourth highest-selling artist for the Archambault chain of music shops while simultaneously holding the number 32 slot on the pop charts. Debut album in the U.S. with Six Degrees Records as the first international artist on Starbucks’ Hear Music Debut Series.
Her album was received with critical praise from NPR’s Morning Edition, The Associated Press, Reuters, and many more, hailing her as “…a fresh new face in the Brazilian music scene.” Her album has sound scanned over 130,000 copies to date, making her the biggest selling Brazilian artist of 2007. Céu reached unprecedented chart numbers for a Brazilian female artist—1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers (New Artist) Chart, 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 1 on Billboard’s World Music charts. In 2008, Céu received a Grammy nomination for “Best Contemporary World Music Album” in 2008 for her debut album Céu. In 2009, her critically acclaimed second album Vagarosa reached #2 on the US Billboard’s World Music charts. The album has since been nominated for a 2010 Latin Grammy Award for Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album.
Collaborations
In 2010, Céu was invited by Herbie Hancock to record a version of “Tempo de Amor” for The Imagine Project album. In 2012, Céu received her fourth Grammy nomination for “Best Contemporary Brazilian Pop Album” for her critically acclaimed third album Caravana Sereia Bloom.
Ceu’s release, Tropix (2016) was named the year’s best Brazilian album by Rolling Stone Brasil, as well as by the great majority of the Brazilian Music Press. Tropix went on to win 2 Latin Grammys for “Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album” and “Best Engineered Album of the Year”. It also won 4 out of 9 nominations at the prestigious Multishow Awards, Brazil’s biggest recording industry awards.
Eight years ago, Céu began collaborating with Frenchman Hervé Salters, lead singer of General Elektriks, and Pupillo, drummer of the Brazilian band Nação Zumbi, with whom she still collaborates today.
Hervé brought the flair of French electronic music to her music, and Pupillo in turn left his mark on the city of eleven million in São Paulo. This collaboration resulted in the successful albums “Tropix” (2016), and “Appka” (2019).
West Coast USA
In 2023, Céu returned to the USA, this time to the West Coast, where she conceived “Novela”. Recorded at Linear Labs Studio in Los Angeles, the production is signed by the São Paulo-born artist, the musician and producer from Pernambuco, Pupillo – former drummer of Nação Zumbi, co-responsible for “Tropix” (2016) and “APKÁ!” (2019), both by Céu, winners of three Latin Grammy Awards, and a producer for Gal Costa and Erasmo Carlos – and by the American multi-instrumentalist and arranger Adrian Younge, owner of Linear Labs, known for albums such as “Something About April” (2011), and for projects with Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, The Delfonics, and Wu Tang Clan, as well as co-directing the multimedia initiative Jazz Is Dead.
As is customary in Adrian’s work, the album was captured live, without the technological gadgets of today. Recorded on tape, in a dynamic moment that demands total presence. An old-fashioned approach that harkens back to the beginnings of character-forming record recordings.
“futuristic experience requires a lot of emotional intelligence and noT artificiality. Nothing vintage,” she assures.
More voices
Novela is a compilation of 12 songs woven together with captivating collaborations and featured artists. “Dawned in your lucky color/ Chant your mantra and go/ Singing/ Living is for the brave,” sings Céu on the new song “Raiou,” which opens Novela. On the album opener, Céu is joined by the esteemed MC and songwriter, LadyBug Mecca, from Digable Planets, whose parents are from Brazil.
In “Gerando na alta,” it’s the turn of Anaiis, a Franco-Senegalese singer and songwriter, based in London, England, to exchange impressions about sisterhood.
In “Novela,” ancient technologies, healing, creaminess, bolero, polished stars, echoes of soul music, things of the earth, rap, and whispers to guides emerge. Throughout the record, there is a reaffirmation of the author’s fearlessness, committed to her time, in the complexity and beauty of creative work. Always keeping the diversity of Brazilian music on the horizon. Stay tuned for exciting scenes also in our broadscast on Mixcloud platform, because this album is our new “Album of the week”.
NMR (photo: press Céu)
