“Flutua” (Johnny Hooker, 2017)
Source: 26° Prêmio da Música Brasileira, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Born John Donovan Maia, Johnny Hooker turns 38 today. The song translated below, which also features Liniker, was on his 2017 album “Coração” (“Heart”) and has become an LGBTQIA+ anthem in Brazil. Last year, on May 17 (International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia), Lívia Nolla published an article on the Nova Brasil FM website that included the history of this song. I’ve translated some excerpts of that article below that nicely encapsulate some of this important song’s roots.
Johnny Hooker talked in interviews about some of the factors that influenced him when writing the hit Flutua. First, he says that the song he thinks is the most beautiful in the whole world is Heroes by David Bowie in partnership with Brian Eno, released by Bowie in 1977. [That song] was inspired by a kiss between a (heterosexual) couple in love … and leads to a reflection about how we can be the heroes of our own story … On his first record - Eu Vou Eu Vou Fazer Uma Macumba Pra Te Amarrar, Maldito! – Johnny Hooker thought that he had already talked a lot about the end of love and about when love doesn’t work out. And on his second record, the artist wanted to talk more about the triumph and victory of love, about when love does work out. About when two people love each other, despite everything, despite everyone. A celebration of love.
Around that time, he was living in Rio de Janeiro … and he saw lots of same-sex couples walking in the streets holding hands and he thought that we could be living through a new time. And those images reminded him of a British film, which Johnny saw when he was still a pre-adolescent that impacted him a lot called Beautiful Thing. … Hooker remembers being … excited by the perspective of having a positive representation of same-sex relationships in the cinema, at a time when HIV and AIDS cases were exploding in the world and the majority of representations were tied to the context of disease, death, and epidemic. … The final scene of Beautiful Thing, in which the protagonist couple dances on the patio of the housing complex where they lived … was the first memory and starting point that inspired Johnny Hooker to start to write Flutua. The artist says that the song’s lyrics are totally inspired in that moment: “Nobody can try to tell us how to live.” When he went to record “Flutua” … Johnny thought there wasn’t anyone better to accompany him in this duet than Liniker. He saw the singer and composer present at a festival which they both performed at and he thought that when Liniker sings, she floats, she stays suspended in the air.
“Flutua”
O que vão dizer de nós?
Seus pais, Deus e coisas tais
Quando ouvirem rumores do nosso amor?
Baby, eu já cansei de me esconder
Entre olhares, sussurros com você
Somos dois homens e nada mais
Eles não vão vencer
Baby, nada há de ser em vão
Antes dessa noite acabar
Dance comigo a nossa canção
E flutua, flutua
Ninguém vai poder querer nos dizer como amar
E flutua, flutua
Ninguém vai poder querer nos dizer como amar
Entre conversas soltas pelo chão
Teu corpo teso, duro, são
E teu cheiro que ainda ficou na minha mão
Um novo tempo há de vencer
Pra que a gente possa florescer
E, baby, amar, amar sem temer
Eles não vão vencer
Baby, nada há de ser em vão
Antes dessa noite acabar
Baby, escute, é a nossa canção
E flutua, flutua
Ninguém vai poder querer nos dizer como amar
E flutua, flutua
Ninguém vai poder querer nos dizer como amar
“Float”
What are they gonna say about us?
Your parents, God, and such things
When they hear rumors about our love?
Baby, I’m already tired of hiding
Among looks, whispers with you
We are two men and nothing more
They’re not gonna win
Baby, nothing has to be in vain
Before this night ends
Dance to our song with me
And float, float
Nobody can try to tell us how to love
And float, float
Nobody can try to tell us how to love
Among scattered conversations on the ground
Your body rigid, hard, sound
And your smell that was still left on my hand
A new time has to win out
So that we can flourish
And, baby, love, love without fear
They’re not gonna win
Baby, nothing has to be in vain
Before this night ends
Baby, listen, it’s our song
And float, float
Nobody can try to tell us how to love
And float, float
Nobody can try to tell us how to love