Rio de Janeiro, Vitória, Curitiba, Goiania, Salvador. For every São Paulo profile you found when you opened Tinder in São Paulo this Corpus Christi Day, at least three more came from metropolitan areas thousands of miles from the capital, São Paulo. On the streets, geographical diversity invades the ears, from the retroflex “R” of the Paulistas to the “S” of the Fluminenses.
Events targeting the LGBTQIA+ community brought hundreds of thousands of tourists to the city this weekend, most notably to the Micareta São Paulo, which gathered around 20,000 revelers daily from Thursday (16th) to Saturday (19th) at the Sambódromo do Sambadrome. Anhembi and the LGBT Pride Parade, whose organizers are expected to bring 3 million people to Avenida Paulista this Sunday afternoon.
One of the main attractions of the city, in addition to the variety of ballads and parties for each letter that makes up the acronym of the municipality, were pop, funk and axé singers such as Claudia Leitte, Daniela Mercury, Gloria Groove, Ivete Sangalo, Ludmilla, Luisa Sonza and Pablo Vittar. Most performed on both Micareta and Parada, stacking hit after hit.
Such was the case of Vittar, the world’s most followed drag queen on social media, who has just returned from a tour of Europe. Before beginning the presentation at Micareta, she told this reporter that she sees Pride Month both as a platform for reflection and political demands, and as an outlet for the difficulties the community faces every day.
“These events represent the celebration of our lives, not only ours that is here, but also those that sadly no longer exist, and let those names not be forgotten and those voices not be silenced. Especially this year we have to celebrate our lives after Covid and the violence we endured in Brazil.”
Urias, author of hits like “Diaba,” believes that in addition to fighting prejudice coming from outside the community, this is also an opportunity to reflect on stigmas that exist within the acronym itself, such as racism, ageism, or the impossibility by groups like bisexuals or transvestites and transgender people like you.
“We have to think about our demands and our common enemies, but also about our differences because there are several letters, LGBTQIA+, each with its own themes. We need to think about how we organize for a common goal.”
Although the red of the Workers’ Party dominated the streets, seen on pins, stickers, flags and towels with the face of former President Lula, the political tension of the events was not as high as at festivals like Lollapalooza, Virada Cultural or even João Rock, in the interior of São Paulo, marked by choruses of “outside, Bolsonaro” and “Lula lá”.
Whether out of fear of breaking the law and being prosecuted for early election propaganda, or of their own free will, few singers declared their support for Lula or outright criticized Bolsonaro.
Pepita, for example, climbed onto the Burger King and Avon electric trio and urged the public to do the “L,” which Ludmilla had done in Micareta, but with care to make it clear on social media that it’s up to you really the “L” was about Ludmillas, not Lulas. This is how São Paulo City Councilor Fernando Holiday interpreted it after his show at Virada Cultural, prompting him to ask the court to suspend the singer’s fee.
Luísa Sonza was the one who made the most political statements not about the electric trios, but about the report before she performed at the Micareta.
“It’s an election year. There’s no way not to take a stand. And taking a stand isn’t just saying who to vote for, it’s debating politics. We young people need to be debating politics. To block that discussion or to hinder is a contempt for society.” .”
The statement came about a week after Sonza denounced on social media that artists and digital influencers who speak out politically are being boycotted by some brands that don’t hire these celebrities for promotions or try to contractually ban their activism .
His complaint was corroborated by the report of Fátima Pissarra, one of the directors of Mynd, a marketing agency that made around R$300 million last year by negotiating “releases” for figures such as Sonza, Vittar, Gil do Vigor and Gkay.
Pissarra said there isn’t a segment more proLula or Bolsonaro, but that among his agents, those most hurt are those who say they will vote for the PT candidate.
“Regardless of segment, when the brand asks for influencers who don’t reveal political positions, it generally refers to not hiring influencers who endorse Lula. It’s people who support issues like sexuality, gender and race,” said the businesswoman, who has just released a book on influencer career management, Influencer Profession.
The truth is that with Micareta and Parada, the audience itself was more interested in partying. By the time Vittar’s electro trio were getting ready to park at Micareta, the drag even shouted it was “Lula 2022,” but there was little time to form a political chorus, and everyone was already singing “Congratulations” at the top of their lungs , one of their songs, top hits, recorded with Psirico.
It was as if for a few days the audience had forgotten the future of the country and the political choirs that became the tonic of concerts throughout Brazil, caring only about having fun, be it triple, quadruple, quintuple Kissing or playing the steps of hits like “Sentadona”, even improvising the strings around the electric trios to back up the rolling
This is already a political manifestation in Uriah’s estimation. “It may not seem so, but the very fact that we are alive is revolutionary.”