I thought it would be a torrential rain, but it was on an ordinary day', says Jão about his father's death Jão was coming from a tour selling out stadiums and festivals in 2025, when he made a difficult decision for an artist of his stature. In April, he decided to take a career hiatus, which would include disappearing from social media and any work commitments. He knew he needed a break, he prepared for it, and yet life surprised him (as life often does). In June, the 31-year-old singer would lose his father, Carlos Alberto Balbino, at the age of 61. "I think I always imagined things in a very epic way. I thought that the day I lost someone it would be one thing, a torrential rain and I would, I don't know, receive several divine signs. But it was just an ordinary day", he told g1. After more than a year away, he returned this Sunday (26) with the album "Memórias Póstumas", which reflects on grief and love with a renewed sensitivity. To g1, he spoke about the album, his relationship with grief and creation in partnership with his boyfriend Pedro Tófani, with whom he composed several of the songs on this album. See below: 'There is no objective with grief' After his father's death, Jão says he was paralyzed. "I didn't listen to music for a long time. It's funny how we condemn ourselves for some very strange things like that, right? I didn't give myself the right to listen to music because I thought that music was a good thing for me, that it nourished me, and that it would be unfair at that moment to listen to music." But one day, as things are in the grieving process, this depression turned into a desire to create — in his words, "vomit" what he felt. "One of those days, I started running at night and I went to listen to Lorde. And I cried a lot. I don't remember what I heard, I don't remember how I heard it. I just remember that the music really hit me. I was very relieved. I said: 'OK, I need this'. And it was a moment of vomiting, just like that. I wrote a lot of things and I wasn't thinking about an album, but I was thinking about really relating to it." Jão says that he composed more than 50 songs during this period, without thinking much about an album, just about what he needed to put out. Among them were tracks with new lyrical selves, such as "Eu Semper Volto", which is sung in female form. "I lost a little perspective on things when I was in the countryside and last June. I really wasn't paying much attention to my career, to music and I didn't see why and I didn't see much fun. So I think it's an album that has a lot of different perspectives, at the time I think I was a little out of perspective. I talk about some perspectives, my father in 'Jabuticabeira', my grandmother in 'Eu Semper Volto', my boyfriend in 'João'". The result is an emotional album, but one that tries to look forward. This idea even appears on the album cover, which shows the singer "hitchhiking" with Lady Death and looking at the horizon, not knowing what's coming. "[The cover shows how] death is everyday, and the way we relate to it on a daily basis and the way it is unexpected. And I think this is the perfect representation of how it is there and how there is no objective. I think I understand this a lot, there is no objective with grief, there is no objective with trying to understand this meaning. It's really learning how to live together." Jão at a photo shoot for the album 'Memórias Póstumas' Disclosure/Hugo Comte It wasn't easy to write and release such personal songs about such a difficult loss, especially having a huge fan base. But Jão says that, when starting his career, he "made a deal with himself" that he would write whatever he wanted. "I just continued with my deal", he says. "My father was an extremely direct and extremely lively person. And I think my coolest way to honor his life was to live my life in the most badass way possible. So I think I get very attached to that. My father was my fan, there was no other person and everything that is happening, everything that happens in my career, I want to tell him. It's the first person. So that moves me, knowing that my work leaves it alive for me." To g1, the musician also confirmed that he will do a return show on September 25th. Jão also said that it will be a show on a 360 stage, which has been his wish for a long time. "It's a very big challenge, because Brazil has very few places where it's possible to perform, but I've always really wanted to get as close to everyone as possible with this specific show. Even though I'm very proud of the work we do and how we put on the shows, I know that the driving force that connects that whole thing is the people who are there", he says. João and Pedro "Memórias Póstumas" includes "João", the first track in Jão's career that was not composed by himself (it was written by his boyfriend, Pedro Tófani). The two have collaborated together since their first albums but, this time, the dynamic was even more particular. Jão says that Pedro showed the song to him, which is part of the "language" between the two. "João" is a melancholic track, with verses like "Maybe it's time to abandon the plans / And give us some definitive rest". delicacy by Jão, who chose to include the vocal demo in the final version. "Obviously, later when I went to produce the track, I refined the things I wanted to improve, but that voice is mine from the demo, trying to find the melody because it didn't exist." And there was no other way for her to be on the record if it weren't for him writing, because I questioned myself about that. This is the first song in my entire catalog that I didn't write. But it seemed very natural to me,