Luiza Girardello Visits Section 36 Music!

Photo: E. Roman

Section 36 Music has another visitor! Luiza Girardello is an amazing singer, fresh off her debut single, "Conversa Fiada". I was flattered that she wanted to visit with us and discuss her music, future goals, and more. I’m sure you’ll enjoy everything she has to say.

So, let's see what happens when Luiza Girardello visits Section 36 Music!

I am incredibly excited for your debut single, “Conversa Fiada”. What can you tell me about it?

Thank you so much for having me! I'm excited too, it's been a long time coming. This is my debut single, and I wrote it in Portuguese, my native language. "Conversa Fiada" is an expression that translates as "small talk" and the song is my manifesto against it. I wrote it right around the time that we were coming out of the lockdown during the pandemic, and I started to realize how much energy it took to interact with people.

I was craving connection, but when I'd meet with people it didn't feel very deep. We'd end up talking about the weather. So Conversa Fiada is exactly that, I sing the first two verses in first person as someone fed up with these conversations about whether it will rain or not. But in the third verse the tone changes as the lyrics go "I wanna see your demons/All of your trauma, so it washes the soul/Even if it lasts for a thousand years" (Quero ver os teus demônios/Todo teu trauma, que lave a alma/Mesmo que dure por milênios ).

The chorus is a play on the sound of words. I chose words that have the same number of syllables to be able to sing it very rhythmically. If you check out my songwriting notebook there's an entire page with rejected candidates, it's a mess! The words may seem like a random list if you listen casually, but they are a list of subjects that are either taboo or absurd or plainly ridiculous to talk about to someone who you've just met.

What was your favorite part of the recording process?

The whole process was awesome! I love working with friends

and making music together is one of the best feelings ever. I originally wrote this song for a class in my last year at Berklee College of Music, and I talked to a friend who was also a senior, João Vitor Costa Dias, to see if he would like to work on arranging my original music, since I had my Senior Recital coming up. João asked to take a listen before agreeing, and after checking out my very bad demos he said yes. He wrote arrangements for a rhythm section (guitar, keys, bass, drums) and a string quartet (two violins, viola, and cello). And I gotta say, it sounded amazing. We worked together for that show, which happened in December 2022, and he also played drums on it.

By the beginning of 2023, I had finished school and my student visa had run out, but I still wasn't allowed to work or leave and re-enter the United States. I honestly got pretty depressed, and the Boston winter doesn't help. Since there wasn't much else I could do, I took that time to record all of that material from the recital. We went to Wellspring Studio in Acton, MA in February with the band and engineers and recorded these tracks live in the studio, without a click. We wanted to capture the same energy from the live playing we had been doing. In about 24 hours of studio time spread over three days we recorded nine songs, and I couldn't be happier with what we made. There are more cool things coming out soon as we work on finishing up the rest of this material.

What is your favorite part about performing in front of a live audience?

I've been performing as a singer my entire life, but I started my music journey as a classical singer on the more academic side, and singing with rock and metal bands on the more fun side. For the longest time I couldn't conceive of any crossover between these two worlds I was a part of. I later started going into Brazilian music and jazz, and I really love all of these styles of music, but what I really wanted to do (and couldn't even admit to myself for the longest time) was to write and perform my original music. That changed everything. There is something about it that makes it scarier, because of the level of vulnerability involved. There is nothing to hide behind. But it is just as gratifying as it is scary.

Are there any upcoming shows that you’re especially excited about?

Chris Beyer

My next show is on October 5th at this cool place called Warehouse XI in Somerville. I'll be sharing the bill with Round Trip, a band totally worth checking out. They're killing musicians and I'm lucky to also have Jake Stevenson, their guitarist and vocalist as the guitar player for my band.

What would you say is your biggest challenge with your music career?

I think my biggest challenge is the same in my music career and in my personal life. It's staying true to my vision and aspirations. I grew up in a family of frustrated artists. Which is not to say that their art isn't amazing. It is. But for example, my mom is really a high level visual artist, but it was only a couple of years ago in her 60s that she's had her first art show. No one had ever seen it outside of family and friends. My dad is the same, he's also a musician and producer, and he's also only fully embraced it now in his 60s.

I'm really privileged for the fact that they both raised me saying that I could have any career I wanted, as long as it made me happy and I applied myself to it fully. And a part of me believed it, but it took me a long time to understand why I couldn't allow myself to go for it. As an adult I see that their example was louder than their words. They did an amazing job as parents in so many ways, but it feels nice to break this cycle that I see has been in my family way before their generations.

It wasn't easy for me to actually embrace being a musician. It took a mental health crisis, a cancer diagnosis and six months of chemotherapy for me to come to terms with the idea that if I died tomorrow the one thing I would regret was not having expressed more, and not having actually tried to dedicate myself fully to music and see what happens. This September also marks 9 years since my chemotherapy ended and I got into complete remission, so it feels like a full circle to release this first song now.

What are your immediate career goals?

I am currently finishing up my next single. That one is going to be in English, and I'm really excited to get to share it very soon. The main goal in the time being is to keep doing what I'm doing: writing, performing, releasing and teaching music.

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I'm excited for that next single!

As always, I want to thank Luiza for visiting with us, and for sending along the pictures to accompany the interview.

I'm sure you’ll all want to listen to Luiza and follow along with her to see what she's up to. I would definitely follow her on Instagram, and on Spotify. In fact, check her out everywhere! And if you can make it to her upcoming show, I definitely recommend you do!

Thanks again Luiza, and good luck reaching your goals!