Rodrigo Leão’s new single Friend of a Friend, featuring vocals and lyrics by the Canadian singer-songwriter Michelle Gurevich, was released today. It’s the first single from the new album A Estranha Beleza da Vida, scheduled for release in October through BMG and available for presales from today as well. The new album will also mark Rodrigo’s return to the world’s concert stage.
Throughout his career Rodrigo has composed and conceived some of his records as if they were films or a story to be told. Like in a film, it all comes down to the casting of the voices that will bring to life each character of the narrative. Rodrigo then adds in the sounds and moods to create the final cut that gives each record its own diversity and identity, dictated by each of its stories. This is what happened in albums such as Alma Mater, Cinema or A Mãe, where the story is told through the guest singers that embody these characters. In common all these records share more than a music style or genre, but the idea of an album as a film, and of cinema as its world.
Friend of a Friend returns to this concept by casting Michelle Gurevich as a character. Rodrigo says it’s one of his favorite tracks on the new album: “this song was born from my search for a happy rhythm, influenced by the music of rhe 1950s, and gave me the enthusiasm I needed to seek new ideas. It reminds us of a completely different world than the one we live in today.”
This festive song has a video made in Copenhagen and Lisbon, without the two artists ever having met for its filming. Michelle and Rodrigo played their characters in the cities they live in and filmed independently of each other, with Michelle also directing the whole production.
The single’s artwork is by renowned writer and illustrator Afonso Cruz and it can be played on all leading digital streaming platforms (Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer) from June 18.
At the same time the new album A Estranha Beleza da Vida will also be available for presales. It will be released globally by BMG in October 2021, continuing the partnership started with the album O Método.
