Girl from Ipanema gets 1200% streaming spike after Olympics opening

Image: Olympics Facebook

One of Brazil’s best known international songs, The Girl From Ipanema, has had a 1200% spike in streaming on Spotify after it featured in the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics.

The laid back bossa nova song was played as Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen sashayed 500 feet across the Maracana Stadium. Performing the song during her walk was the original composer’s grandson.

According to Spotify, Ipanema was streamed just 3,000 times a day before the Opening Ceremony last Friday. The day after, it was up to 40,000 times a day.

The Girl from Ipanema was written by composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and lyrics writer Vinicius de Moraes about a 17-year-old girl who Jobim spotted on Rio’s iconic Ipanema Beach. The girl, Heloisa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, is now 71, runs a boutique, and has been thrust back in the media spotlight to talk about being immortalised in the song.

It was first released by Pery Ribeiro in 1962 with the original Portuguese words. Ipanema became internationally famous in 1964 when an English version was recorded by American jazz musician Stan Getz and Brazilian singer and songwriter Joao Gilberto. They collaborated on album Getz/Gilberto which is generally acknowledged to have introduced bossa nova to the world. It won album of the year at the Grammys in 1965 while the song itself, sung in English by Gilberto’s wife Astrud and reached #5 on the US charts, won record of the year. It went on to become the second most covered song after The Beatles’ Yesterday.

The revival of The Girl from Ipanema is a success for Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), which represents the song and 22 others during the meet. UMPG’s Brazilian music catalogue includes the works of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes.

Aside from Ipanema, also featured in the Opening Ceremony, and to be included in the Closing Ceremony, are classics Canto De Ossanha, Deixa A Vida Me Levar, Bachianas No. 7 (Preludio) and Deixa A Tanga Voar, among others. UMPG Brazil artist and songwriter Anitta also performed at the Opening Ceremony.

UMPG also provided music for TV networks around the world as well as for ads used during the Olympics by brands as Toyota, Omega Watches, Comcast and Royal Caribbean

In addition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) tapped UMPG signing Questlove for their global “Together we can change the world” campaign. The soundtrack for the filmed project was produced by Questlove, who re-recorded the song The Fire (co-written by another UMPG writer, Tarik Trotter of The Roots), with recording artists from across the world.

“The Olympic Games is one of those rare global events where the world comes together to celebrate not only sports but culture,” commented Tom Eaton, Senior VP Music for Advertising, UMPG. “Our synch teams worldwide are the very best at maximizing the potential of globally televised events that generate mass exposure, creative opportunities and maximised revenue for our songwriters and iconic songs.”