Marilia Mendonca

Marília Mendonça was a Brazilian singer and songwriter whose work reshaped the visibility of women in sertanejo, the country-rooted popular music associated with Brazil’s interior. Born Marília Dias Mendonça on July 22, 1995, in Cristianópolis, Goiás, she grew up in Goiânia. Before becoming a recording star, she wrote songs for established performers, including “Minha Herança,” recorded by João Neto & Frederico, and “É Com Ela Que Eu Estou,” recorded by Cristiano Araújo. Her first EP, Marília Mendonça, arrived in 2015. The live album Marília Mendonça: Ao Vivo, released in 2016, brought her national recognition. Its song “Infiel” became an enormous Brazilian hit, while “Alô Porteiro” and “Eu Sei de Cor” further established her direct, conversational approach to songs about betrayal, breakups, desire, and women’s agency. Rather than treating those subjects as decoration, she often placed the female narrator at the center of the conflict. She became widely linked with “feminejo,” a label used for the rising prominence of women in sertanejo. Her commercial breakthrough did not erase her role as a songwriter: composition remained central to her repertory and to the industry that had employed her before fame. In 2017, she issued the album Realidade, which included “De Quem É a Culpa?” and “Como Faz com Ela.” She expanded the scale of her performances with the project Todos os Cantos. Beginning in 2019, its recordings were made in Brazil’s capitals, combining large appearances with new releases. The resulting album, Em Todos os Cantos, won the 2019 Latin Grammy Award for Best Sertaneja Music Album. Mendonça also collaborated frequently with fellow singers Maiara & Maraisa. Their project As Patroas was released in 2020, and its follow-up, Patroas 35%, came out in 2021. The collaborations joined three of the genre’s most commercially consequential female voices. Her career was cut short on November 5, 2021, when the small aircraft carrying her crashed near Piedade de Caratinga, Minas Gerais. Mendonça was 26. Four other people aboard were also killed: her producer Henrique Ribeiro, her uncle and adviser Abicieli Silveira Dias Filho, pilot Geraldo Martins de Medeiros Júnior, and co-pilot Tarciso Pessoa Viana. News of her death prompted mourning across Brazil, where her songs had become fixtures of radio, streaming, bars, and sing-along concerts. Her projects continued to reach listeners after her death. Decretos Reais, released in 2022, assembled material recorded before the crash. In 2023, it received the Latin Grammy for Best Sertaneja Music Album.