Vinny’s powerful account of career decline: “kind of death”

When you say the singer’s name Vinny, people who lived through the 1990s react instantly with any mention of the hit “Heloísa, Mexe a Cadeira”. However, the career of the singer born in Leme, in the interior of São Paulo, goes far beyond the song released in 1997 as part of the album Todomundo.

Even before he broke out, in the early 1990s, the artist was part of a hard rock band called Hay Kay. The project released an album in 1992, including a song, “Secrets”, on the soundtrack of the soap opera Vampire, from the TV Globo. However, sales of the album were not so good — and the singer left the record company BMG to sign with Indie Records, releasing his first solo work in 1995.

Everyone is actually their second album. And it brought a song that became bigger than the album or even the album itself Vinny in terms of popularity. Even though he scored another hit the following year — “Shake Boom”, from the album In Gandaia —, the association with “Heloísa, Move the Chair”, became too strong.

Other works were released, without repeating the success of the late 1990s. Artistically, this contributed to his career being “condemned” to ostracism. In an interview with Mateus Starling’s podcast (via Extra), he presented a strong reflection: in his view, it was like a “kind of death”.

“You see your audience decreasing, the number of shows decreasing… You see everything decreasing. It’s a kind of death. We will all go through a kind of death, even if it is biological. Which doesn’t mean you need to die.”

The way to Vinny Avoiding this figurative type of “death” was the involvement in other activities outside of music over the years. The musician graduated in Philosophy and received a master’s degree in Social Sciences, in addition to having completed training in psychoanalysis.

“You can reinvent yourself, you can remake your life. I never got scared because I saw it coming. I know this is so.”

Vinny and “Move the Chair”

Still during the interview, Vinny admitted that even the people who talk to him around can’t help but mention “Heloísa, Move the Chair”. The artist also revealed that many asked if he would make another song like that. The answer was always negative.

“The number of times I heard someone say ‘move the chair’ is the same number of times they came to ask me when I was going to do a new ‘move the chair’. Never. That was a conjunction of things, of factors, and it was part of a moment. Today, if I did something similar, it would be ridiculous, to say the least, as if I were trying to recover something I once had. The wave has passed, life goes on.”

Conscience

In another interview, with Studio 96 Workshop (via The time), Vinny he assured that he was aware that his success would be temporary. Even with all the repercussion, the singer tried to keep his feet on the ground.

“This gigantic wave lasted three years, it was a phenomenon, I went to Japan to tour for two months. […] I was already 30 years old, I had been working since I was 20. One thing that never left my radar was: ‘This is a wave, you can surf, but it’s a wave. […] I prepared for this climb for ten years, but for the fall I prepared myself my whole life. I somehow suspected it was a wave. Fall is inherent to decline. Talking about decadence, defeat, decline is almost a sin, but if we understand how it works and use it to our advantage, it can be an impetus for something else.”

In another chat, from 2011, with the journalist Marcelo Vieira for the website Judão, the musician highlighted that “Heloísa, Move the Chair” It came about as a kind of “joke”. It would be accompanied by other heavier songs — however, as already noted, it became bigger than the entire work.

“This song was and always will be a joke! Her album was very heavy, with very heavy appearances (B-Negão, Ostheobaldo etc). I thought it would be funny to make a funky song that made fun of the album itself. To my amazement, it exploded in Brazil and around the world. Freud might explain! (laughter)”