Segundo

by Philip Jandovský Segundo is the second album by Maria Rita, following up on her enormously successful debut album from 2003. Rita undoubtedly is a very talented singer with a great voice. She proved it on her first album and proves it again on Segundo. But after all the huge expectations built up by large sections of the media before this release, you can't help but find it something of an anticlimax. Not that Segundo is a bad album, because it isn't. But it isn't all that great either, especially compared to the work of many other, much less famous Brazilian artists and singers. Dominated by a rather sparse, slightly jazzy MPB sound, Segundo sounds very similar to the previous album, though there is actually less stylistic variation between the songs this time around. However, a couple of tracks stand out from the rest due to their quality. "Caminho das Águas" is a very cute, nice, and gentle piano ballad. The excellent "Mal Intento," sung in Spanish, was written by the famous Uruguayan composer Jorge Drexler. Rita's version of O Rappa's "Minha Alma" also functions very well indeed. Segundo is a tasteful, fine, and classy album, but far from the masterpiece many people would have it be.