Anti-Amor

Gustavo Mioto's "Anti-Amor" builds its emotional logic on a premise that's become a minor subgenre in itself within sertanejo universitário: the song of defiant indifference to love, made by someone who clearly still believes in it completely. The production is polished and contemporary, with acoustic guitar providing emotional grounding against a cleaner electronic-influenced backdrop—the sound that defines young sertanejo for the current generation. Mioto's voice has a directness to it, less ornamented than some of his peers, which suits a lyric that wants to be taken at face value even when the listener can hear the contradiction beneath. The "anti-love" posture is essentially a defense mechanism wearing a clever name—the protest too loud to be believed—and the song knows this, which is what gives it its charm. It belongs to a tradition of sertanejo emotional indirection that goes back generations, the genre's particular habit of saying things through negation. Best heard in the car with friends who have all recently made very questionable romantic decisions together.