Gabriel da Rosa is a Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and guitarist. Growing up in rural, southern Brazil with a radio DJ for a father, de Rosa was exposed to a wide variety of music from his his homeland. But it wasn’t until he moved to Los Angeles that he began curating Brazilian records and DJ’ing himself.
da Rosa wound up bonding with Stones Throw Records‘ label head, founder, artist and DJ Peanut Butter Wolf over their shared love of Brazilian music. The Brazilian-born artist began writing his own bossa nova, inspired by traditional bossa nova but with a contemporary edge with Pedro Dom, a musician, who has worked with some of Brazil’s best, internationally known artists like Seu Jorge, Rodrigo Amarante, and Latin Grammy Award-winner Ian Ramil.
The Brazilian-born artist signed to Stones Throw earlier this year, and the label released his debut single “Jasmim parte 1” earlier this year, a song that details the enchanted feelings of first meeting someone, but having doubts whether the connection with actually last. As de Rosa puts it, “the song is about “wanting to remain in an eternal fairytale.”
da Rosa’s second and latest single “Bandida” is a swooning and swaying, wine-drunk Bossa nova rooted its creator’s thoughts while in solitude and centered around strummed guitar, the Brazilian-born artist’s heartbroken and weary delivery, a mournful saxophone line paired with the genre’s traditional shuffling rhythms. As da Rosa explains, the song came about after an idle night spent in, drinking wine and strumming his guitar. “The wine and my guitar brought out some bittersweet thoughts — all day, I’m surrounded by amazing people, real friends and acquaintances, but at the end of the day, I’m alone,” he says.
Directed and edited by Eric Coleman, the accompanying video is shot in a gorgeous and cinematic black and white, and feature the Brazilian-born artist and his backing band performing the song in a little club, as the wine-drinking crowd gently sways and sings along, recognizing a bit of themselves in the song’s bittersweet meditation of loneliness.
