What Ed Motta says about being “cancelled” on the internet

In the last years, Ed Motta found himself involved in some controversies on social media. In 2015, for example, the musician criticized compatriots who decided to follow his performances abroad to “kill the nostalgia” for the country, defining them as “simple people” and calling Brazil an “ignorant land”. In 2022, during a live on YouTube, he harshly criticized Raul Seixas, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Brazilian rock as a whole. He was criticized in both cases and later recanted.

Despite the episodes with some duly recognized excesses, Ed is not the type to seek to prune his own opinionated expression on the web. In an interview with Lookthe artist declared that he doesn’t care about being “cancelled” — in his calculations, “about four times”.

“Nothing changes. I’ve already been canceled in Brazil four times. I’m signed to MPS, the most important jazz label in Europe. So, am I going to listen to cancellations?”

In the musician’s view, who recently released the album Behind the Tea Chroniclesthe “cancellation” occurs in a segment of which it is not even part.

“I’m canceled in an area that I don’t even work in. I’m canceled in the middle of the young hipster. I’m not interested in those figures either.”

Ed Motta, artificial intelligence and the present

Also during the interview, Ed Motta was invited to answer whether he follows the development of new technologies in music, such as the use of artificial intelligence. In his response, he made it clear that he has no eye on any type of popular artistic manifestation at present.

“I’m fine outside of it. I have total contempt for the present. The present is never nice. I love the Beatles, but I haven’t heard their new song (‘Now and Then’, produced with the help of artificial intelligence to improve the quality of existing recordings). I need to decant what everyone is doing, wait for it to calm down.”

The musician declared that he was not interested in what “everyone wants”. And he highlighted the type of work that attracts his attention.

“When I go to a restaurant and the waiter tells me that that dish is the most popular, that’s exactly what I won’t order. I live in my bubble. I am a profound student of the subjects that interest me: cinema from the 1920s to the 1950s, music from the 1920s to the 1970s and comics from the 1940s to the 1970s. I have no interest in knowing what cryptocurrency or intelligence is artificial. I have no interest in NFTs. I only watch YouTube because it has channels that I like. I stay there in my bubble. I don’t need to know about festival X with DJ Y who has a show I don’t know where.”

“Behind the Tea Chronicles”

Available on digital platforms on October 20th, Behind the Tea Chronicles is Ed Motta’s fourteenth studio album. The compositions are inspired by TV series and films that he enjoys, also exploring a range of genres such as funk, soul, jazz and Broadway musicals. In a note, he commented:

“Colombo, Barnaby Jones and Streets of San Francisco (in Brazil, São Francisco Urgente) are my favorite series. But I also like the English Quatermass, the first science fiction series in the world and produced by the BBC, which was a direct inspiration for a track on the album. I was also inspired by old films: especially George Cukor’s film Gaslight, and films by Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Melville and Basil Dearden, who are some of my favorite directors and gave me a lot of ideas. I wanted to create something truly unique with Behind the Tea Chronicles. Old movies and TV series have always had a profound impact on my imagination and musicality. I wanted to pay homage to these influences and use them as connection points to create an album that is not only musically engaging, but also takes listeners on a nostalgic, cinematic journey. It is an ode to freedom and a commitment to art.”