Meu Coco

Meu Coco (lit. 'my coconut', colloquially 'my head') is a studio album by Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Caetano Veloso, released on 21 October 2021 on the record label Sony Music. It is his first album of entirely original compositions since his last album, Abraçaço (2012), following a nine-year hiatus from solo studio work. Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the album was largely produced in the home studio of Veloso's apartment in Rio de Janeiro, with assistance from musician and producer Lucas Nunes.
Musically, Meu Coco features a mixture of MPB and tropicália with elements of samba and religious influences. Across its 12 tracks, they explore themes such as love, identity, prophecy, and Brazilian cultural memory. Veloso references figures like João Gilberto and Maria Bethânia, incorporates Middle Eastern and Afro-Brazilian rhythms, and engages with political commentary, particularly in response to the Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. Meu Coco received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised its lyrical depth, musical richness, and relevance within Brazil's contemporary cultural and political context.
In 2012, Caetano Veloso released Abraçaço, a Latin Grammy Awards-winning studio album that showcased his continued experimentation with eclectic Brazilian sounds. This project was followed by Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música: Multishow Live (2016), a collaborative tour and album with longtime collaborator Gilberto Gil, which celebrated their decades-long partnership. By 2019, Veloso had shifted focus to a minimalist live project with Brazilian clarinetist Ivan Sacerdote, touring briefly in Brazil alongside guitarist Felipe Geides. Plans to expand the tour nationally were halted in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Concurrently, Veloso abandoned preparations for a new studio album involving dancers from the Folkloric Ballet of Bahia, as lockdowns rendered collaborative sessions impossible.
The album, created during the COVID-19 pandemic, was largely recorded in the home studio of Veloso's Rio de Janeiro apartment with assistance from Lucas Nunes, which he and his wife, Paula Lavigne, had moved into during the early months of the lockdown. He began recording demos of unreleased material. These sessions evolved into Meu Coco, his first solo album of entirely new compositions since Abraçaço. With a space transformed into a "creative hub", Veloso's surroundings influenced the intimate, reflective nature of the work. The album was released on 21 October 2021.
Music critics have categorized Meu Coco as a MPB and tropicália recording. The album consists of 12 tracks that address themes such as prophecy, names, love, and interpretations of Brazilian culture and the world. The album begins with the title track "Meu Coco", which blends poetic reflections with cultural references, including mentions of figures like João Gilberto, Maria Bethânia, and Nara Leão, while incorporating elements of samba and religious influences. "Ciclâmen do Líbano" presents a Middle Eastern romantic theme set against darbuka rhythms, influenced by the work of Austrian composer and conductor Anton Webern. "Anjos Tronchos" explores about the disorder of the technological world in which "leading clowns emerge macabre, equipped with total controls", with dark guitar riffs and zabumba beats supporting its introspective lyrics. "Não Vou Deixar" references political oppression under the Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, offering a pop anthem about resilience amidst struggles, which picks up the flow of funk carioca, created from a rap base synthesized by Lucas Nunes and recorded with percussion played by Vinicius Cantuária.
"Autoacalanto" serves as a lullaby for Veloso's grandson, to which his father Tom Veloso plays the guitar, inspired by the child's soothing vocalizations as he learned to sing himself to sleep. "Enzo Gabriel" reflects on future generations, with an accordion melody adding a melancholic tone. Of the aforementioned track, Veloso states: "I never met anybody with that name but read in the newspaper that most Brazilian baby boys born between 2018 and 2019 were named Enzo Gabriel". "GilGal" touches on a Candomblé beat created and performed by Moreno Veloso. "Cobre" combines orchestral and samba elements in a narrative set in Bahia, arranged by Jaques Morelenbaum. "Pardo", originally performed by Céu, addresses homoerotic themes with brass arrangements. "Você-Você" is a collaborative track with Portuguese fado singer Carminho, playing with language and pronouns. "Sem Samba Não Dá" incorporates contemporary references within a samba framework. The album concludes with "Noite de Cristal", a piece he originally wrote in the 1990s for his sister Maria Bethânia, reflecting on patience and hope.
Meu Coco was met with mostly positive acclaim from various music critics. Lucas Brêda, writing for Folha de S.Paulo, described Meu Coco as a reaffirmation of Veloso's enduring faith in Brazil's cultural richness and potential, even in challenging times. He noted that the album reflects a blend of "magic despite the misery" and highlights Veloso's ability to draw inspiration from both the legacy of icons like João Gilberto and the innovations of new generations, such as Djonga, Duda Beat, MC Cabelinho and Leo Santana. Tracks like "Não Vou Deixar" and "Sem Samba Não Dá" demonstrate Veloso's "unyielding belief in the power of music" as a form of resistance and hope. Silvio Essinger from O Globo, described Meu Coco as a work of "quantity and intensity", where "each track has its own life". Essinger praised Veloso's ability to merge contemporary themes with his musical legacy, highlighting the album's dialogue with Brazil's cultural and political landscape.
Music journalist Mauro Ferreira, writing for G1, rated the album with five stars, praising the album as a "rich and ambitious" album that balances Brazil's artistic vibrancy with its social dissonances, concluding that Meu Coco showcases Veloso's "mastery of musical storytelling", reaffirming his role as a pillar of Brazilian artistry. Journalist Pedro Antunes, from Universo Online, in an interview given by Veloso, made reference to this text and asked him if at any point he thought that perhaps it was time to stop composing, but the artist replied: "The song was stronger than me and became if too strong in defining my future. Now I had thought about not composing almost anything else. I ended up making my first album just of my own compositions (lyrics and music)".
The process of creating Meu Coco attributes the following credits: