Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade thrills viewers with routine to rhythm of funk song; with Simone Biles dropping out, she now has the top score at Tokyo 2020
By Marques Travae
Who’da thunk it? A Brazilian funk song being played in Tokyo Olympics. A big hit at that! In women’s artistic gymnastics, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade is in the finals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. For her routine, Andrade performed to the sounds the funk song “Baile de Favela,” a smash hit by the artist MC João’s. The 22-year-old native of from Guarulhos, São Paulo, put on a show and wowed spectators with her solo presentation.
She came in second in the general individual competition with a score of 14.066, behind only the great Simone Biles of the United States, who recently announced she would drop out of the competition due to an injury.
A Brazilian duo performed on the balance beam before Andrade’s solo. With a score of 13.966, Flávia Saraiva scored best and qualified for the final. Rebeca received a score of 13.733. Despite her high score, Flávia twisted her ankle and had to withdraw from the competition, skipping her next two performances, including one on the asymmetric bars.
Rebeca made two jumps on the third apparatus and received scores of 15.400 and 14.800, with an average of 15.100, which was enough to qualify her for the final. The gymnast concluded her routine on the asymmetric bars with a score of 14.200, which would allow her to compete in the general individual final as well.
Sunday, Andrade ended her day with the second highest score of all competitors, coming in second to only Biles. Rebeca managed to rack up a total of 57,399 points from her performances. In all, she trailed Biles by only 332 points.
”How cool that gymnast Rebeca Andrade took MC João’s funkão Baile de Favela to her performance in Tokyo! What a beautiful thing to see!” 🇧🇷#Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/CRy8lYvhmR – — Kaique Dalapola (@KaiqueDalapola) July 25, 2021
The song “Baile de Favela” became one of the top trending topics on Twitter thanks to Andrade’s outstanding solo performance. MC João’s ditty was released in 2015 and dramatically changed the life of its creator, João Israel Simeão, better known by his stage moniker, MC João.
The song was written in a large house, and its lyrics describe the bailes funk or funk dances that often go down in the outskirts of the city of São Paulo and features a catchy refrain that is impossible to forget. The building isn’t located in the slums, includes a swimming pool, two well-decorated floors, and a balcony that offers views of the city’s North Zone.
Josyka 🙆🏾♀️ 🇧🇷@JosyRamos
Taking a baile de favela to the Olympics is not for just anyone, did’ja hear me
Daiane Oliveira@Daianejoliveira
Rebeca Andrade with Baile de Favela gave me goose bumps and emotion. Very moved. How beautiful.
Josyka 🙆🏾♀️ 🇧🇷@JosyRamos
I’m touched up ’til now with Rebeca
The location serves as the headquarters of GR6, a firm that handles a team of young men that are unknown for people in Brazil but are recognized as stars in São Paulo’s popular “bailes” (balls or dances). At the time, MC João was a newcomer to the team.
João’s funk blew up in 2015 and climbed the charts, sharing the top 10 on Spotify and iTunes in Brazil alongside other popular artists such as Justin Bieber and Anitta. It was a game changer for MC João who was working as an office boy for a monthly salary of a little more than BRL 600 reais, which at that time was worth about USD 150 dollars. João was also taking care of his mother, who was dealing with various health issues, as well as two sisters at the family’s home. As with other young people, funk music served as a “relief valve” from his strenuous daily schedule.
In March of this year, five years after the explosion of the success of “Baile de Favela,” a true landmark in São Paulo’s funk scene, the funk singer started the label Baile de Favela Records, the first office opened by an MC who was already well-known in a scene dominated by two large companies, Kondzilla and GR6, which introduced MC João to the public.
At the age of 29, the funk star stated that the song changed his life and with the revenue he attained from the hit, he was able to purchase a house for himself and his mother. But, as what typically happens in the music industry, everything wasn’t what it seemed. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he signed a shady contract and walked away with none of the income from the 220 million views that the song’s video earned on YouTube.
Even though he didn’t have another song that was as successful as “Baile de Favela” afterwards, he still released a number of hits in the popular funk genre. As with other artists who have been swindled out royalties due to lack of understanding, João studied copyrights and discovered that many MCs frequently negotiate record deals that appear to be all good to individuals who have nothing, but then turn out getting short end of the stick in terms of revenue and royalties.
But things weren’t all bad for João. Unlike others who immediately go out and buy lavish things such as expensive cars with that first big check, João says he “didn’t squander” the money he earned.
He went on to leave GR6 without any major dispute with the desire to start his own record label. His goal is that, by launching his own business, he may motivate other ‘’flavor of the month’’ MCs to pay greater attention to the deals they sign and the revenue they earn.
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