O Que Será

"O Que Será" - Chico Buarque A cornerstone of Brazilian MPB, Chico Buarque's "O Que Será (À Flor da Pele)" is a swirling, urgent meditation disguised as a love song. Written in 1976 for the film *Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos*, it rides a propulsive, almost feverish samba-tinged rhythm, acoustic guitars and percussion building a restless momentum beneath Buarque's warm, conversational baritone. The genius lies in its torrent of questions—"what will it be?"—a relentless lyrical cascade probing desire, mystery, and the ineffable force that moves people to madness and longing. On its surface it's about passion that lives just beneath the skin (à flor da pele), but written under Brazil's military dictatorship, it doubles as veiled political yearning, the unnameable thing everyone whispers about but cannot speak. That double meaning is quintessential Buarque, a master of layered subtext who smuggled resistance into popular song. The melody surges and circles without resolution, mirroring the unanswerable nature of its refrain. His phrasing is poetic yet earthy, every syllable serving the rush of words. Culturally it's a sacred text of Brazilian songcraft, endlessly covered by artists like Milton Nascimento and Simone. It belongs to moments of intensity—celebration, longing, the bittersweet ache of wanting something just out of reach—a song that feels both like a party and a quiet act of defiance.