The Singles Jukebox

Big in Brazil… y’all.

[Video]
[5.75]

Nortey Dowuona: All the English language sources I could find for Raí Saia Sodada tell me he makes regional Brazilian music, and he’s enticing this pretty Brazilian girl in a pastiche of American Westerns in the video. But the music itself is this gorgeous arrangement of faux-Western Scene guitars, twinkling and warring ghost synths and deep, plush keyboards surfing upon the sea of swirling bass and lowly kicks hoisting the chipped hi hats and high pitched snares and popping toms, with Rai’s deep, robust voice swinging and sometimes missing through its Portuguese lyrical stylings. It’s just as good, but musically much harder to parse.
[8]

Hazel Southwell: The Pet Shop Boys’ version of Go West, reimagined for the Wild West. Absolutely obsessed with the bit where it turns into a stumbling, bellowed polka like the moment at a supra when the chacha hits.
[8]

Iain Mew: The galloping bass provides an unstoppable sense of forward momentum, and the full-throated drama over cheap beeps is a combo that keeps revealing new pleasures. 
[7]

Samson Savill de Jong: I fear I might be insulting an entire country’s musical culture by saying this (100 million views :O ) but I kept hearing Weird Al’s Brazilian cousin when listening to this. It’s partially the accordion, but it’s mostly the weird electronic plopping sounds during the chorus, and the, for lack of a better word, “bwoip” saxophone(?) sound effect afterwards. I find those musical choices really confusing. Rodada has a really strong and powerful voice, but the song feels like it wants him to be sillier. (The video certainly tends towards lighthearted.) The song almost works, but the tension I heard sonically prevented me from really getting into it, and there’s enough contrast to make it loop back around to working again.
[6]

Juana Giaimo: The western vibes of the beginning of the song are quite intriguing (I’m not sure I can say that I enjoy it, though), but then Raí Saia Rodada starts singing so loud that his voice is the only thing I can pay attention to. I feel this aims to be danceable, but I find it really hard to even move my feet when someone is almost screaming at me.
[3]

Sonya Nicholson: God it sounds exactly like he’s shouting to be heard over the bass in the club.  “Hey this production is a really clean and this is funk bass not dirrrrty bass are you sure-” “What?” “Are you sure you need to-?” “WHAT?” “ARE YOU SURE YOU NEED TO BE SO-” “WHAAAAAAT???” “ARE YOU SURE YOU NEED TO SHOUT?!!”  It wouldn’t be as bad except the intro has some promise, you know it’s gonna build to something, and then — it’s the exact same thing repeated, just louder the second time. 
[4]

John S. Quinn-Puerta: The stylistic choices of the intro are forgotten by the second verse, buried by the overstuffed artifice of the instrumental, itself left unmatched by a lonely vocal track. Raí Saia Rodada is a strong vocalist, but but this track was sorely in need of harmonies to hold my interest. 
[4]

Thomas Inskeep: In the early-mid ’90s, as country music re-exploded in popularity in the U.S. and line dancing clubs became the thing, there was a slew of remixed versions of country hits, such as Brooks & Dunn’s behemoth “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and Alan Jackson’s “Who’s Cheatin’ Who.” And that’s precisely what Raí Sada Rodada’s “Tapāo No Raba” reminds me of. To my ears, the music that Rodada plays, electronic forró, is at times awfully akin to danceable country music, so this makes perfect sense. This features amongst its elements a honkin’ sax, cheesy drum pads, accordion, and surf guitar, while Rodada belts earnestly as if he’s, I dunno, Luke Combs straining to hit high notes or something. While this wouldn’t pass muster as country music on American radio, this 100% sounds like a Brazilian version of the genre to me.
[6]