''Luz no Meu Caminho'' () is the sixteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Brazilian recording artist

Xuxa Meneghel Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel ( , ; born Maria da Graça Meneghel on 27 March 1963) is a Brazilian TV host, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "The Queen of Children", Xuxa built the largest Latin and South American children's ente ...

. Its released in October 1995, by

Som Livre Som Livre (Portuguese for "Free Sound") is a Brazilian record company that was founded in March 1969 in order to commercialize the soundtracks for TV Globo (its then parent company) soap operas and later expanded to recording studio albums. , it ...

. Like the previous release, '' Sexto Sentido'' (1994), ''Luz no Meu Caminho'' bets on the children's audience, with more mature songs and references of

melodic funk Funk melody () is a fusion genre of funk carioca and Latin freestyle. History DJ Marlboro's radio show "Big Mix", broadcast since the 80s, has popularised a soft version of the underground funk carioca songs. These soft versions formed a romantic ...

and

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

. It has sold over 800,000 copies.

Production and songs

After the success of the

'' Sexto Sentido'', the audience that grew up with

Xuxa Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel ( , ; born Maria da Graça Meneghel on 27 March 1963) is a Brazilian TV host, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "The Queen of Children", Xuxa built the largest Latin and South American children's ente ...

wanted to see more and more songs aimed at teenagers, but the blonde still had the desire to make children's albums. The blonde even tried to get ''Paquitas'' to represent it with songs in this style, but the public's desire was stronger. One of the first recorded songs for the album was Saturday, composed as the theme of the ''

Xuxa Park ''Xuxa Park'' was a Spanish children's television series hosted by Xuxa Meneghel, based on the '' Xou da Xuxa'', produced by Michael Jay Solomon and screened from March 12 to June 18, 1992 by the Madrid network Telecinco, the third largest broadc ...

'' program. Soon after came ''Xuxa Hits'', composed based on the eponymous picture that had been gaining more and more notoriety, gaining its own scenery and an "independent" schedule of the Park. The album approaches a more mature language bringing themes like

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

and

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

. One of the bands that stands out most is "Brasileira". The song portrays Xuxa's love for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, extolling its people and culture. During the recording of the song, the presenter asked to include an excerpt from the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

narrative, when Brazil became four times champion, besides the story of

Galvão Bueno Carlos Eduardo dos Santos Galvão Bueno, known as Galvão Bueno (Portuguese pronunciation: �awˈvɐ̃w̃ buˈenu born 21 July 1950), is a Brazilian television personality and commentator, where he hosted Brazil national football team matches, ...

in one of the victories of

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

. The blonde also shows the love for her land in another track, but this time, talking about her hometown,

Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul Santa Rosa is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, located at latitude 27º52'15" and longitude 54º28'53" at a height of 277 meters above sea level. It has an area of 488.42 km2. Its estimated ...

, which gives title to the song. "Príncipe Encantado" was written based on the time when Xuxa lived at the time. The blonde felt very alone and dreamed of finding a boy who could make her happy. The music features elements of

, rhythm that dominated the radios in that period. Still in funk from Rio, the album brought the track "Funkeiro" that initially would be interpreted by a boy who would live the history of the music. But, Xuxa and her team could not find anyone to match, the lyrics underwent some changes for the blonde herself to play. Lincoln Olivetti came up with a totally different arrangement for the song, but Marlene Mattos preferred the version of the

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

sent by the composer. The singer Abdullah participated in the song "Como o Sábio Diz", thus marking the first of several partnerships between him and the queen of the little ones. The composer also participated as

backing vocal A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

of several tracks of the disc. Among the more

Children's music Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...

tracks, in addition to "Sábado" that was discarded at the end of the production, the presenter brought the joke "Salada Mixta", "Sorvete", "Xuá Xuá" and "Pra Quê Fumar?", that was written based on the campaign against the

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

that the blonde starred in end of that year. On the album, the blonde also talks about her belief in the track "Luz no Meu Caminho". In a more direct way, this song included the song "Crer Pra Ver", recorded for the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

special of 1994. The song has the special participation of the christian music singer

Aline Barros Aline Barros Kistenmacker dos Santos (born 7 October 1976) is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. Several of her albums have been certified multiple times as Diamond by the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD). Partial discogr ...

. Initially, "Brasileira" would be the title track of the album, but at the end of September they decided to change to ''Luz no Meu Caminho''. For the art of the album, Xuxa herself chose the photo Hilly Desert Road Reflecting Sunset from photographer Eric Meola to illustrate the booklet. ''Luz no Meu Caminho'' was produced by Michael Sullivan, music producer of Xuxa from the ''

Xegundo Xou da Xuxa ''Xegundo Xou da Xuxa'' () is the third studio album by Brazilian recording artist Xuxa Meneghel, released on June 23, 1987 by Som Livre. The album sold over 3.2 million copies. It is one of the most popular albums of Xuxa's career, surpassing sa ...

'' (1987), had artistic direction of Aramis Barros and artistic coordination of Marlene Mattos, Xuxa Meneghel and Helio de Freitas. It was recorded in the

studios.

Release and reception

''Luz no Meu Caminho'' It was released by

in October 1995 in CD,

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

and LP being the last released in this format. It was reissued in 2001 and 2006 on CD, with changes in the back cover and insert. The album reached the 5th position among the most sold CDs in its debut week. In its second week, it reached the 4th position. As of 1995, it has sold over 800,000 copies.

Promotion

Beginning the release of the disc was released the song "Xuxa Hits". For the first time, Xuxa recorded a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for a song with the sole intention of promoting her album and not just to show in her program and in specials. The video was distributed to the press and came to be shown on channels such as

MTV Brasil MTV Brasil was a Brazilian over-the-air television network owned by Grupo Abril focused on the youth and entertainment. The network was launched on 20 October 1990, as the first specialty television network to broadcast over-the-air, becoming ...

and SBT. Gradually, other songs from ''Luz no Meu Caminho'' were released on the ''Xuxa Park'' show, but only "Salada Mixta" was released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. On October 15, 1995, Xuxa participated in Domingão do Faustão singing the songs "Xuxa Hits" and "Salada Mixta", in addition to presenting the ''Paquitas'' and the group ''You Can Dance''. Shortly thereafter, "Pra Quê Fumar?" was used as the theme of the Ministry of Health's campaign against cigarette smoking. "Luz no Meu Caminho", "Salada Mixta", "Brasileira", "Como o Sábio Diz?", "Pra Quê Fumar?" and "Ritmos" won music videos at the

special of 1995. The song "Crer Pra Ver" already had won a music video on last year's special. In the night program that celebrated the 10th anniversary of ''Xuxa in Globo'' in 1996, the song "Príncipe Encantado" also won a video. Unlike the other albums, there was no tour of the ''Luz no Meu Caminho''. In an interview shortly after the release of the album, the businesswoman of the time, the singer's manager Marlene Mattos justified that not touring was part of the marketing strategy. Marlene even considered the realization of two shows, one in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and another in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, with songs from the album, but it is not known why the plan did not materialize. In addition to

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

, ''Sexto Sentido - O Xou'', released in May 1996, Globo Vídeo even edited a VHS with the title ''Luz no Meu Caminho''. It is unclear if the content would be the music videos from the album or the record of one of the shows planned by Marlene.

Track listing

Personnel

*Produced: Michael Sullivan *Art Direction: Aramis Barros *Artistic Coordination: Marlene Mattos and Xuxa Meneghel *Artistic Coordination: Helio de Freitas *Recording Technician: Mario Jorge Santos *Technical Supervision: Nolan Leve *Recording Assistants: Mauro Moraes, Julio Carneiro, Everaldo and Ivan Carvalho *Editing: Sergio Seabra *Recorded in the studios: Som Livre *Makeup Department: Promaster *Production Assistant: Duda Nogueira *Auxiliary Technicians: Sergio Rocha and Harley de Barros *Recording Technician: Jorge 'Gordo'

Certifications

References

External links

Luz no Meu Caminho
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1995 albums Xuxa albums Som Livre albums 1990s Portuguese-language albums