What Kids These Days Like

Why don't Americans like Brazilian pop music?

Today’s youth are into, I am told, this very pleasant pseudo-Brazilian song “From the Start” by Laufey (full name Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir), an Icelandic-Chinese young lady from Iceland. I like it but I keep waiting for it to turn into “The Girl from Ipanema.”

The Scandinavian takeover of English language pop music was something that I had not seen coming. Back in the day there was ABBA and perhaps a few metal bands.

Laufey is a high class pop star who works jazz and classical into her repertoire. Most of her songs are not Brazilian.

But this one got me thinking about Brazilian popular music. Like America, Brazil is a huge country with European and African musical traditions that blend nicely. Not surprisingly, Brazilians love Brazilian pop.

(Although when I landed at the Rio airport in 1978, the first song I heard welcoming the world to Brazil was the cover of “Do the Loco-motion,” by Grand Funk Railroad, Homer Simpson’s favorite band.)

Americans will often say they love Brazilian pop, but what they usually mean is they love the 1960s hit “The Girl from Ipanema:”

What about other famous Brazilian hits?

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