Quebrada literally translates to "broken" or "break", but in Brazilian Portuguese slang, it refers to a 'hood' or 'favela' – a low-income urban area.
In the song, the line "Festa na quebrada mano e hoje eu tou fervendo" means "Party in the hood, man, and today I'm hyped up." This word offers a glimpse into Brazilian street culture and is a unique, engaging term for learners.
"Festa" is a straight-up party anthem, built for the moment David Carreira and Brazilian funk artist MC Kevinho put a Lisbon crowd and a Rio crowd in the same room. It opens with Carreira waking up wanting to "acordar toda a cidade" (wake up the whole city) and "contagiar todos com a minha positividade" (infect everyone with my positivity), then walks straight into the invitation: "'Tá aqui toda a gente, só faltas tu p'ra completar" (everyone is here, you're the only one missing).
The chorus keeps it simple and a little reckless — "Toma mais um copo e brindar longe da fofoca" (take another drink and toast, away from the gossip), "Depois da meia noite já sabem que não atendo" (after midnight, you know I won't answer). Kevinho's verse brings the Brazilian funk half of the song, and the hook that carries it out, "Amanhã será o que Deus quiser" (tomorrow will be whatever God wants), is the whole philosophy in one line: worry about tonight, let tomorrow take care of itself.
David Carreira is one of Portugal's biggest pop stars. Born in Dourdan, France, in 1991 and raised in a famously musical family as the son of the singer Tony Carreira, he broke through in 2011 with the album "N.1", which went straight to number one at home. Since then he has moved easily between radio pop, ballads and dance rhythms, and in 2019 he became the youngest Portuguese artist ever to sell out the Altice Arena in Lisbon.
On "Menta" he shares the microphone with Djodje, a Cape Verdean singer, songwriter and producer born in Praia in 1989 and now based in Lisbon. Djodje grew up surrounded by music, started out as a teenager in the group TC, and has become one of the leading voices of kizomba and Afropop across the Portuguese speaking world. His warm, laid back delivery, part of it sung in Cape Verdean Creole, is what gives this song its island heat.