Carlyle & Co’s new resident artist shares how her new album ‘Morfo’, which is inspired by Amazonian butterflies, charts her transformative journey as a singer of dual heritage
Norwegian Brazilian jazz singer, composer and arranger Charlotte Dos Santos attributes her love of singing to Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Fugees. But they are not her only inspiration. The 33-year-old graduate from Berklee College of Music is constantly experimenting with different music genres to come up with her own unique sound. She specialises in mixing jazz with R&B riffs, soul, funk, bossa nova and samba to create hypnotic and healing melodies.
Her debut album Cleo (2017) earned her a nomination for newcomer of the year at the Spellemannprisen Awards, the most prestigious award ceremony in Norwegian music industry. She was about the release her second album Harvest Time and tour through Europe and the US in 2020, when the pandemic hit and disrupted her plans. Dos Santos turned this into an opportunity to rework on her album and released it an Extended Play (EP) format, following it up with Morfo in 2022.
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Inspired by the morpho butterfly found in the Amazonian forest that are known for their dazzling, iridescent wings, Morfo charts the singer’s metamorphosis into her own identity from her dual heritage, while also paying tribute to her rich lineage. At the same time, the album is charmingly playful, referencing aspects of modern life—there’s even a song called Ghost in the Shell, which is on AI robots.
For her Hong Kong debut at Café Carlyle, she will perform numbers from Morfo and Cleo. Tatler got the chance to chat with her for an exclusive interview ahead of her visit.
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