Critic's evaluation
Music has always been present and desired in his life from a very young age. One of the first milestones in her life came when, at the age of 18, she was able to start working in the music industry. However, it is now, at the end of 2023, that Sofia Oliver has taken a satisfying leap forward: the release of Afeto, her debut EP.
It's like being at the height of happiness and fulfillment, taking a rain bath on a summer's afternoon. Soft, fresh, contagious and with delicate, sweet notes of nostalgia, the introductory melody provides a mixture of nonchalance, lightness, longing and a pure state of ecstasy. In the form of pop rock with flirtations and inclinations towards both soft rock and MPB, the sound flows into a first verse in which the protagonist is Ricardo Rodrigues' guitar with its subtle swing reminiscent of the melody created by Ashlee Simpson in the introduction to Pieces Of Me. Although the guitar appears as the instrument itself, Sofia Oliver's voice, with its velvety timbre, steals the show by containing generous pinches of affability and refreshing Tati Porttella's vocal characteristic in the listener's mind. Exuding a shy and unreasonable reggay sensuality, Aquarela also offers an acid base through the reproduction of the hammond keys and a softened synchronicity coming from the union between the full-bodied groove of Zé Henrique's bass and the beat of Heitor Lima's drums. This is how Aquarela overflows with subtlety and a largely mellow atmosphere, while making the beach, the sand, the sea and the road the setting for a romance born out of a great helping hand from fate. With the scent of adolescence and a personality that is still immature and naive, Aquarela is the story of that first love that makes your hand sweat and your heart race, but also the kind of love that makes all the pain in the world disappear.
It's like leaning on the window frame watching the sun fall asleep on the horizon, filled with a bucolic energy. Between the guitar, which continues with the same delicate freshness created in Aquarela, the simple rattle of the caxixi amplifies the notion of comfort and delicacy, just like stretching out and slowly feeling the texture of the sheet rubbing against your newly awakened skin. It is this texture provided by the percussive instrument that incites the perception of a xote base, something that is confirmed at the arrival of the chorus with the tinkling of the triangle drawing out this northeastern rhythm. Sweet, simple and adorably contagious, the climax of Bagunçar shows influences from Thiago Iorc and Maria Gadú in Sofia's singing style and even highlights the continuation of romanticism in the lyrical plot. Also continuing with the pubescent aroma of the previous song, Bagunçar brings that summer-faced love, the carefree, light-hearted one, but which has also built up an unbreakable passion. It's a description of how one person can transfigure another's emotions until they feel and become a frequent part of that emotional environment.
Along with the guitar, the electronic drums now set the rhythmic pace with a simple mix of pop and rap. Contagious and with a joy that is present, but curiously less than in the previous songs, Camisa is a track that tells the reality of a relationship that no longer exists, but whose libidinous longing causes weaknesses that overcome any kind of control and awareness. The slightest act to begin the reconstruction of an emotional life can be an opportunity to, much more than remembering, relive sensations and emotions that reveal not only insecurity, but also uncertainty and a breeze of sentimental dependence.
It's quick stuff, true, but what it presents is enough to understand, digest and experience what Sofia Oliver has to offer. A representative of the new wave of Brazilian pop, the singer has offered Afeto a linear plot that tells a romantic and passionate story. A story as fresh, naïve and immature as the exchange of glances during high school breaks.
Full of freshness, embraced by large doses of softness, verbalized by timid falsetto and an almost transcendental vocal delicacy, the EP tastes like a vacation, allowing the listener to feel everything from the sea breeze to the texture of damp sand on their feet. Or even the bucolic scent of an evening in the countryside when the sun is falling asleep behind the silhouettes of the native trees.
It may be that, with Afeto, Sofia Oliver has joined the ranks of names such as Anavitória, Melim, Vitor Kley, Chimarruts and Lagum, but the transcendental and extra-sensorially jovial base she built on the EP provided, with the adhesion of her soft and affectionate pronunciation, a fusion of genres that only cause a feeling of comfort.
From pop, there were steps into soft rock, MPB, reggae, xote and timid insertions of rap, which gave a more lucid and down-to-earth texture to the hypnotic passion of the lyricism. And thanks to Rodrigues, all the rhythms and all the instruments could be easily felt, tasted and appreciated to such an extent that the listener was able to create imaginary-sensory scenarios from the proposed melodies, going from the beach to the countryside in fractions of a second.
Rounding off the technical scope of the EP is the cover artwork. Signed by Alice Guedes and Alex Bezerra, the artwork, which features the singer lying on her back against a beach backdrop, conveys the notions of freshness, nonchalance and lightness that are so widespread in both songs, including even the dependent-melancholic Camisa.
Released on 11/28/2023 in an independent way, Afeto is a romantic and libidinously pubescent EP that exudes naivety, honesty and purity. Affectionate and extremely delicate, the material presents a name that will certainly still be heard a lot by consumers of the new wave of MPB. After all, Sofia Oliver has proved that she knows how to unite delicacy, contagion and the youthful sensuality so much brought by the new compositions of the genre.
