Learn Portuguese With Marília Mendonça with these 23 Song Recommendations (Full Translations Included!)

Marília Mendonça
LF Content Team | Updated on 2 February 2023
Learning Portuguese with Marília Mendonça's music is fun, engaging, and includes a cultural aspect that is often missing from other language learning methods. It is also great way to supplement your learning and stay motivated to keep learning Portuguese!
Below are 23 song recommendations by Marília Mendonça to get you started! Alongside each recommendation, you will find a snippet of the lyric translations with links to the full lyric translations and lessons for each of the songs!

Marília Mendonça was a Brazilian singer and songwriter from Cristianópolis, in the state of Goiás. Born in 1995, she started writing songs as a child and launched her recording career in 2014, quickly becoming one of the biggest names in sertanejo music.

She was known as the Queen of Sofrência, the heartbreak-driven side of sertanejo, and helped lead the feminejo movement of women artists in a genre long dominated by men. Her powerful voice and honest lyrics about love and longing turned her into a superstar across Brazil. Marília died in a plane crash in November 2021 at just 26 years old, and she is still celebrated as one of the country's most beloved voices.

CONTENTS SUMMARY
O Que Falta Em Você Sou Eu (What You're Missing Is Me)
Falando em saudade
De novo eu acordei pensando em você
Já faz um mês que não te vejo
Trinta dias que eu acordo pensando em você
Speaking of missing you
Again I woke up thinking about you
It's been a month since I last saw you
For thirty days, I've been waking up thinking about you

Have you ever missed someone so much that you were completely sure they missed you too? That's the whole mood of this classic by the queen of Brazilian Sertanejo, Marília Mendonça. She starts by saying it's been a month since she's seen her ex, and she's been waking up thinking about him every day. After seeing a recent photo, she notices that even though he looks the same, something is missing in his smile.

Instead of being sad about it, she comes to a very confident conclusion. She declares, "O que falta em você sou eu!" (What's missing in you is me!). It's such a bold and direct line. She tells him his smile needs hers and that he should come get his "other half"—"Vem buscar logo a sua metade". She knows he's dying of longing, or saudade, and she's just waiting for him to realize it.

Uma Vida A Mais (An Extra Life)
Meus passos seguem um destino traçado
Nesse momento estão desacelerados
À espera que encontre o meu caminho
Pensei que fosse nosso, eu pensei
My steps follow a traced destiny
At the moment they are slowed down
Waiting for you to find my way
I thought it was ours, I thought

"Uma Vida a Mais" is Marília Mendonça's tender duet with Maiara e Maraísa about patient, hopeful love. The singer describes her steps following "a traced destiny," slowed down while she waits for the way back to someone she once believed was meant for her.

Rather than giving up, she keeps waiting: one more day, maybe one more month, maybe one more life if that's what it takes. The repeated line "espero mais um dia" (I wait one more day) carries the song's quiet resolve, and the title itself turns that patience into something almost eternal: she would wait a whole extra lifetime for this love to work out.

The second half leans into hope rather than doubt. She feels certain it will be worth it, that the reward she's dreamed of is close, and that every minute makes it feel more real. It's a song about staying soft and hopeful in uncertainty, choosing devotion over closure.

Não Aprendi A Dizer Adeus (I Haven't Learned To Say Goodbye)
Não aprendi dizer adeus
Não sei se vou me acostumar
Olhando assim nos olhos seus
Sei que vai ficar nos meus
I didn't learn to say goodbye
I don't know if I'll get used to it
Looking into your eyes like this
I know it will stay in mine

"Não Aprendi a Dizer Adeus" is a sertanejo classic about a breakup the singer never wanted, sung as a duet between Marília Mendonça and the sister duo Maiara & Maraisa.

The singer admits she never learned how to say goodbye and doesn't know how she'll get used to being without her partner. Rather than lash out, she chooses quiet dignity: she'll keep her pain to herself and let silence do the talking. She compares love to summer birds that come and go on their own schedule, so if he has to leave, she'll let him go without tears, hoping winter passes and the scar eventually fades.

It's a song about heartbreak handled with grace: hurting deeply while still wishing the other person well.

Você Nem É Tudo Isso (You're Not Even All That)
No seu jogo você faz de bobo quem confia em você
Tenho dó de quem não te conhece e se deixa envolver
Nem sempre as coisas são do jeito que quiser
Você nem é tudo isso, meu bem
In your game, you make a fool of anyone who trusts you
I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't know you and gets involved
Things aren't always the way you want
You're not all that, my dear

"Você Nem É Tudo Isso" is a sertanejo kiss-off aimed at a partner who thinks he's irresistible. The singer warns other people not to fall for his charm the way she once did, and tells him directly that he isn't as great as he believes.

She's watched him operate before, always in control, always working an angle, and she's no longer buying it. Where she used to get pulled in, she now stays quiet and pays attention, because she knows exactly how his game works.

The chorus is her line in the sand: he can play the same tricks on someone else, but not on her anymore.

Ausência (Absence)
Sei bem
O que te faz bem eu sei
Mas no fundo eu já tentei, não faltou coragem
É, uma hora eu ia me tocar, que você não vai mais voltar
I know well
I know what makes you feel good
But deep down I already tried, I didn't lack courage
Yeah, sooner or later I'd realize that you won't come back anymore

Marília Mendonça was known as the "Queen of Suffering" in Brazil, and this song shows you why. "Ausência" is about that moment you finally accept a relationship is over, even when the other person hasn't officially ended it. She gets the message loud and clear from their silence, singing, "Não receber mensagem, também é mensagem" (Not receiving a message is also a message). It's a blunt and brilliant way to describe being ghosted.

She admits she loved enough for both of them—"Amei sozinho, mas por dois" (I loved alone, but for two)—but now she's done. The chorus is a series of promises to her ex, telling them not to worry because she won't be calling or showing up at their door anymore. She's decided to "tomar vergonha na cara" (get a grip). The final line is the killer takeaway: "Pra um bom entendedor / Meia ausência basta" (For someone who gets it / Half an absence is enough). She's saying she doesn't need to completely disappear for him to understand; just pulling back a little is all the hint a smart person needs.

Todo Mundo Menos Você (Everyone But You)
Todo mundo, todo mundo
Todo mundo vê
Só queria que você soubesse
Que toda minha mudança é genuína
Everybody, everybody
Everybody sees
I just wanted you to know
That all my change is genuine

“Todo Mundo Menos Você” is a vibrant sertanejo anthem where Marília Mendonça teams up with Maiara & Maraisa to turn heartache into a playful confession. Over lively guitars and irresistible harmonies, the singer jokes that every single person can see how much she has blossomed since the breakup… everyone except the one opinion that still matters to her.

Behind the catchy chorus lies a mix of pride and vulnerability. She has genuinely reinvented herself, hoping her ex will clap for her progress, feel proud, and maybe fall in love again. Friends praise her glow-up, rumors say she is “doing better than ever,” yet she wonders why his eyes stay closed to the effort she is making. The song captures that relatable tug-of-war between seeking validation from others and learning to applaud yourself first, packed in a melody that makes you want to sing along while you sort out your own heart.

Hackearam-me (They Hacked Me)
Joguei as nossas fotos na lixeira
Pergunte se depois esvaziei
Não tive coragem
'To vendo sempre que me bate saudade
I threw our photos in the trash
Ask if I emptied afterwards
I didn't have the courage
I look at them whenever I miss you

"Hackearam-me" is a breakup song built on one very human excuse: if a message arrives at 3am saying "I still love you", it wasn't me, someone hacked my account.

The first verses show a person trying hard to move on. They threw the photos in the trash, though they never emptied it. They avoid the places where they might run into their ex, and they turn down invitations to go drinking, because even the word "bebê" hurts. That was the name they used to call the person they lost.

Then the excuse arrives. The heart cloned the SIM card, so anything sent tonight is the heart's doing, not theirs. "Não atenda" they warn: don't answer, don't take the call, don't believe it. The warning is really a confession. Nobody sets up an alibi for a message they never plan to send.

By the last chorus the excuse has worn thin. The person is still asking their ex to come back at dawn, still saying "I love you" through a story about a hacker. It is a funny idea carried by a very sad voice, which is what makes the song land.

Infiel (Unfaithful)
Isso não é uma disputa
Eu não quero te provocar
Descobri faz um ano e tô te procurando pra dizer
Hoje a farsa vai acabar
This is not a dispute
I don't want to provoke you
I found out a year ago and I've been looking for you to tell you
Today the farce will end

"Infiel" is a confrontation, but not the shouting kind. The singer walks up to the other woman and says straight away that this is not a dispute and she is not there to provoke anyone. She found out about the affair a year ago and she has been looking for her since then, because today the pretending ends.

Instead of competing, she hands the man over. She calls him a prize that is worth nothing, says she put his bags outside and that he left crying, and tells the other woman that he is now her responsibility: "Você agora vai cuidar de um traidor." She is not losing him. She is getting rid of him, and she asks the rival to do her that favour.

The chorus turns to the man himself. She wants to see him living in a motel, she is throwing him out of her heart, and she tells him to take the consequences of what he did. Then comes the part she is most sure about. The other woman will end up playing the role that used to be hers, and in time she will be the one being lied to, because "você não vai mudar."

Underneath the sharp lines there is real hurt. She says the competition for love only served to hurt her. The song is less about revenge than about refusing to fight for someone who was never worth the fight.

Nada Mudou (Nothing Changed)
Falo que passou, digo que acabou
Mas dentro de mim nada mudou
Falo que esqueci, não é bem assim
Tem muito de nós, aqui dentro de mim
I say it's over, I say it's done
But inside me, nothing has changed
I say I forgot, it's not quite like that
There's a lot of us, here inside me

"Nada Mudou" ("Nothing Has Changed") is a duet between Marília Mendonça and the sertanejo duo Maiara & Maraisa. Both sides of a broken relationship take turns saying the same thing out loud: that it's over, that they've moved on, that they've forgotten. Underneath, each one admits nothing has actually changed.

Both former partners have already started seeing someone new, yet they confess they're still thinking of each other and dying of saudade, that deep Portuguese word for longing, for what they lost. It's a classic sertanejo idea: heartbreak dressed up as moving on, while nothing inside has really changed at all.

Cumbia Do Amor (Cumbia Of Love)
Joelma
Um dia eu ainda consigo cantar e dançar igual Joelma
O amor que sinto por você
É o maior e o mais lindo que existe
Joelma
One day I'll still be able to sing and dance like Joelma
The love that I feel for you
It is the greatest and most beautiful that exists

"Cumbia do Amor" is a party song about loving someone so completely that it spills out of you in public. It opens with a shout of "Joelma", the Brazilian singer famous for her singing and dancing, and a wish: "Um dia eu ainda consigo cantar e dançar igual Joelma". One day I will manage to sing and dance just like her. That sets the mood. This is not a quiet love song, it is one you move to.

From there the feeling takes over. The love she describes is "o maior e o mais lindo que existe", the biggest and most beautiful there is, with nothing in or out of this world to compare it to. Her heart is "cheio de paixão", full of passion, and it does not stay still. It shouts your name wherever she goes.

The chorus repeats the same three things over and over, which is the point. She dreams about you, she cries for you, and she was born to live with you. Saying it once would be a statement. Saying it every few bars, over a cumbia beat, is what being that far gone actually feels like.

There is also a live, in the room quality to it. She stops mid song to dedicate it to a friend, "Juliene, essa é pra você", because she knows Juliene likes this one. That small aside is a good reminder that these songs get sung at parties, to actual people, not just recorded.

For learners, this one is generous. The chorus gives you "sonho com você" and "choro por você" side by side, so you get the same "com/por + você" shape twice, and "onde quer que eu vá" is a phrase worth keeping, meaning wherever I go.

Coração Mal Assombrado (Haunted Heart)
Quando encostar a cabeça no seu travesseiro
Não vai ser só a consciência que vai pesar
Dos seus pesadelos comigo, esse é só o primeiro
Quanto mais 'cê tentar fugir, mais 'cê vai me encontrar
When you lay your head on your pillow
It won't just be your conscience weighing on you
Of your nightmares with me, this is only the first
The more you try to run, the more you'll find me

Coração Mal Assombrado paints heartbreak as a ghost story. Marília Mendonça sings from the viewpoint of a lover who, though physically gone, keeps "haunting" every corner of the ex-partner’s life. From the long, lonely showers to the stale CD looping in the car, her presence lingers like an unwanted spirit, reminding the listener that guilt and regret can be harder to exorcise than any phantom.

In a playful yet piercing way, the lyrics list everyday scenes where this spectral memory appears: the bitter taste left on the lips, the tears soaking clothes, the empty side of the bed that suddenly feels too wide. The hook drives home the main idea: “It’s not me beside you, it’s your heart that’s haunted.” By framing emotional residue as a supernatural curse, the song turns a familiar breakup theme into an engaging tale of love that refuses to leave quietly—perfect for learners to explore vivid imagery, repetition, and colloquial Brazilian Portuguese.

Te Amo Demais (I Love You Too Much)
Eu sou assim
Nunca soube recitar poesia
Não sei palavras de amor
Não sou sedutor, não sei fingir, nem poderia
I'm like this
I never knew how to recite poetry
I don't know words of love
I'm no seducer, I can't pretend, couldn't anyway

“Te Amo Demais” is a heartfelt love letter sung by Brazil’s beloved Marília Mendonça. The narrator admits, almost shyly, that he is no poet and owns no glittering riches, yet he offers something far more valuable: honest, unfiltered affection. Every repeated “Te amo” feels like a heartbeat, showing that fancy verses or silver-tongued flattery are pointless when true love speaks louder. In the quiet of lonely nights he calls out only one name, proving that his devotion is constant whether he can wrap it in pretty words or not.

At its core the song celebrates authenticity. The singer is clumsy with rhymes, short on gold, and hopeless at playing games of seduction, but her message is simple: real love is wealth enough. A look, a kiss from head to toe, and the courage to say “I love you too much”—over and over—are the only languages that matter. Listeners are reminded that the most powerful declarations often sound the simplest, and that sincerity outshines any rehearsed poem or sparkling treasure.

Transplante (Transplant)
Outra vez
A sua boca fala
E o coração desmente
E aí, como é que você se sente?
Again
Your mouth speaks
And the heart denies
So, how do you feel?

What "Transplante" is about

This is a sertanejo classic about pride mixing with heartbreak. The singer runs into an ex and, instead of admitting they still miss them, goes on the offensive: asking sarcastically how the ex is doing now, who helped them home from their first night out, and who's sharing their bed and their earbuds.

But the real confession comes in the chorus. Underneath the jabs, the singer's own heart is the problem: it's stubborn, it won't listen, and it still only wants the person it's supposed to be over. Forgetting them, the song jokes, would take nothing less than a full heart transplant.

It's a song about how the head can move on faster than the heart, and about using humor and a bit of attitude to cover up how much it still hurts.

Impasse
Eu só queria entender seus pensamentos
E o que realmente 'tá rolando
E o que te faz fugir de mim
Te juro, estou tentando ler seus olhos
I just wanted to understand your thoughts
And what's really going on
And what makes you run away from me
I swear to you, I'm trying to read your eyes

"Impasse" is about the frustrating standoff before two people finally admit they want each other.

The singer says she is trying to read the other person's eyes and thoughts, because their words and their actions do not match. She asks them to slow down, sit with her, and just say what they are feeling instead of hiding behind a guarded "no."

The chorus names the stalemate directly: the other person keeps saying no while everything about them says yes. Fear is what keeps pushing them away. She asks them to end the impasse, own the "crazy passion" between them, and let her hold them instead of circling the question forever.

Alô Porteiro (Hello, Doorman)
Pegue suas coisas que estão aqui
Nesse apartamento você não entra mais
Olha o que me fez, você foi me trair
Agora arrependido quer voltar atrás
Grab your things that are here
You can't come into this apartment anymore
Look what you did to me, you went and cheated
Now you're sorry and wanna come back

Alô Porteiro is a fiery breakup anthem where Marília Mendonça turns heartache into empowerment. The song opens with the singer kicking her unfaithful partner out of the apartment, literally calling the building’s doorman to make sure the cheater never sets foot inside again. Every line drips with decisive energy as she orders him to collect his things, take the elevator, and disappear. She is done with fairy-tale excuses, done with “little lies,” and done with being the caring, loyal woman he once took for granted.

Beneath the catchy sertanejo beat lies a story of self-respect and independence. By the end of the call, Marília proudly declares herself single, instructs the doorman to summon a taxi—at her ex’s expense—and bars him from entering forever. The message is clear: betrayal has consequences, and a strong woman knows when to slam the door on someone who does not deserve her. Get ready to sing along, channel your inner confidence, and celebrate the liberating moment when you finally say enough.

Para De Me Chamar Pra Trair (Stop Calling Me to Cheat)
Sei que não é o momento certo
Mas não podemos mais errar
Por tanto tempo, não temos tempo
Por isso escuta
I know it's not the right moment
But we can't make mistakes anymore
For so long, we don't have time
That's why listen

"Para De Me Chamar Pra Trair" is about resisting temptation. The singer already has someone at home who waits up for her every night and can't sleep until she's back safe, and she doesn't want to lose that. So she's telling whoever keeps pursuing her to stop calling her to cheat.

She admits it isn't the right moment and that they can't keep making mistakes together. She weighs whether she's fair to either of them, but keeps landing on the same answer: it's better to stop this here, for good.

Paixão Goiana (Goiás Passion)
Maraisa
Minha mãe já avisou que era pra tirar
Essa eu queria dedicar pra minha amiga Maraisa
Não tem base, nem quantia
Maraisa
My mom already warned me to get rid of it
I wanted to dedicate this one to my friend Maraisa
There's no basis, nor amount

"Paixão Goiana" is Maiara & Maraisa's tribute to their home state, Goiás, sung with Marília Mendonça as a guest verse. The song turns a love story into a road map: the singer goes town to town across the state — "Em Trindade conheci / Um encanto de menina" ("In Trindade I met / An enchanting girl") — chasing someone as elusive as she is unforgettable.

Every chorus insists there is no shortcut to her: "Não tem base, nem quantia / Não tem dia, nem semana / Para eu cair nos braços / Da minha paixão goiana" ("There's no basis, nor amount / No day, nor week / For me to fall into the arms / Of my Goiás passion"). The verses keep naming real towns — Goiatuba, Pontalina, Mineiros, Rio Verde, Jataí — as if the whole state were the search radius for one impossible crush.

Só Pensando Em Você (Just Thinking About You)
'Tá tudo em casa
(Deixa) essa musica é o poder
Recordações não param
De atormentar minha cabeça com o que passou
It's all good
(Just let it) this music is power
Memories don't stop
Tormenting my mind with what happened

Maiara & Maraísa bring in Marília Mendonça for a live sertanejo duet about a breakup neither woman has moved past. "Você foi embora / E deixou uma saudade e com ela a solidão" ("You left / and left behind a longing, and with it the loneliness") sets up the ache: someone walked out, and the person left behind is drowning in saudade — that specifically Brazilian, bittersweet kind of longing.

The chorus turns the hurt into a confession: "Só pensando em você / É inútil tentar te esquecer" ("Only thinking about you / it's useless trying to forget you"). She can pretend she's over it — "Posso até disfarçar / Que deixei de te amar" ("I can even pretend / that I stopped loving you") — but the tears keep giving her away.

10 De Setembro (September 10)
Vou dormir mais cedo
Pra não ver o amanhã chegar
Sei lá (sei lá), 'to com medo
Desse dia demorar pra acabar
I'm going to sleep earlier
So I don't see tomorrow arrive
I don't know (I don't know), I'm scared
For this day to take long to end

A phone call on a birthday that should have gone differently. The singer admits "Se eu não tivesse errado, demorado" (If I hadn't made a mistake, delayed) she would still be the one standing beside the person she's calling, but the mistake happened, and now all she has left is a call: "Liguei pra te dar parabéns" (I called to wish you happy birthday). The chorus circles back to that same short list of gifts a phone call can carry — "Ninguém consegue ocupar o seu lugar" (Nobody can take your place) — because there's nothing else left to give.

By the second verse, the address shifts and Maiara and Marília sing to each other by name, turning the birthday song into a duet between friends rather than a plea to an ex. It's a song about outliving a regret: you can't undo what went wrong, but you can still show up on the day that matters, even if all you can offer is a call.

Assunto Delicado (Delicate Matter)
Eu queria ser a pessoa pra você
Sei que me esperou tanto tempo que cansou (oh dó)
Sei que eu não fiz nada por nós dois
Fui deixando pra depois
I wanted to be the person for you
I know you waited for me so long that you got tired
I know I didn't do anything for us
I kept putting it off

This is a sertanejo duet built on a breakup already half-finished by the time the song starts. The singer admits she never showed up for the relationship: "Sei que eu não fiz nada por nós dois" (I know I didn't do anything for us), "Fui deixando pra depois" (I kept putting it off). There's no villain here, just someone who ran out the clock on a person who waited.

The chorus turns that regret into a warning label: "Nosso caso é um assunto muito delicado" (Our situation is a very delicate matter), "Não deveria nem ter começado" (It shouldn't have even started). It's less a plea to fix things than an admission that it's over — the kind of song you play loud with friends after a breakup, not the kind you send to the person it's about.

Nuvem De Lágrimas (Cloud Of Tears)
Há uma nuvem de lágrimas sobre meus olhos
Dizendo pra mim que você foi embora
E que não demora meu pranto rolar
Eu tenho feito de tudo pra me convencer
There's a cloud of tears over my eyes
Telling me that you're gone
And that my tears will soon fall
I've done everything to convince myself

"Nuvem de Lágrimas" ("Cloud of Tears") is a sertanejo song about the stage of a breakup where you are still pretending to be over it.

The title image opens the song: a cloud of tears sitting over the singer's eyes, about to fall. She knows the crying is coming and she is bracing for it while still trying to argue the opposite — that life is better without him.

The verses admit what the argument is hiding. She keeps inventing new romances to outrun the saudade, but none of them are about the other people; what hurts is simply his absence, and her body still wants his. That gap between the loves she invents and the one she misses is the whole song.

It closes on a plea rather than a resolution: "que jeito triste de te ter" (what a sad way to have you) and "me ensina a te esquecer" (teach me to forget you). Asking the person you are trying to forget to teach you how to do it is the joke and the heartbreak at once — she has not moved on, and the song never claims she has.

Te Quero Pra Mim (I Want You For Myself)
Chego em casa já é de manhã (é nós hoje?)
Depois de uma noite de amor ('to brincando)
Do pensamento não sai
Se eu pudesse voltar atrás
I arrive home, it's already morning (is it us today?)
After a night of love (I'm kidding)
It doesn't leave my thoughts
If I could go back

This is a hangover song, dressed up as a love song. It opens with the singer getting home at dawn, asking herself "(é nós hoje?)" (is it us today?), the kind of question that only makes sense if the night before still has its hooks in her. Marília Mendonça trades verses here with sister duo Maiara & Maraisa, and together they turn one restless night into an entire chorus about wanting somebody back in your bed rather than in your life.

The evidence is physical, not emotional: "Na minha camisa, o seu batom" (on my shirt, your lipstick), "O cheiro do suor do nosso amor" (the smell of our love's sweat). She even asks herself outright, "Mas o que eu vou fazer pra esquecer você?" (but what am I going to do to forget you?), and every time the answer collapses back into the same four words: "Te quero pra mim" (I want you for me). It's less a plea to get back together than an admission that she hasn't moved on, however loudly she says otherwise.

Troca De Calçada (Moving On)
Se alguém passar por ela
Fique em silêncio, não aponte o dedo
Não julgue tão cedo
Ela tem motivos pra estar desse jeito
If anyone passes by
Be silent, don't point the finger
don't judge too soon
She has reasons to be this way

"Troca de Calçada" is Marília Mendonça's compassionate portrait of a sex worker and a plea for the listener to withhold judgment.

The song opens by asking anyone who passes her to stay quiet rather than point a finger, insisting she deserves more time and understanding before being judged. It traces how she got here: a life worn down by contempt, dreams of marriage and family that never had room to happen, and each person who passed through her life taking a piece of it with them.

The chorus is the emotional core: to survive she "froze her heart" to keep her body warm, hiding her sadness behind makeup and a change of shoes ("troca de calçada") each time she has to face the street again. She admits that loving someone hurts far more than the disgust she sees on people's faces. The final plea is simple — if you knew even a third of her story, you would embrace her instead of throwing stones.

We have more songs with translations on our website and mobile app. You can find the links to the website and our mobile app below. We hope you enjoy learning Portuguese with music!
Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play
Rated 4.9 · Join 250,000+ learners
Apple and App Store are trademarks of Apple Inc.
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.