Cansei de Ser Sexy

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Cansei de Ser Sexy
Origin	São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Genre(s)	Indie rock, Dance, Electro, Pop
Years active	2003–present
Label(s)	Sub Pop
Website	Official website
Members
Lovefoxxx Adriano Cintra Luiza Sá Ana Rezende Carolina Parra
Former members
Maria Helena Zerba Iracema Trevisan Clara Ribeiro

Cansei de Ser Sexy (pronounced [kɐ̃'seɪ dʒɪ ser 'sɛksɪ], literally "I have become tired of being sexy" in Brazilian Portuguese), better known as CSS, are a Brazilian band from São Paulo. Their songs have an electro/rock sound, and are sung in both English and Portuguese; their lyrics mostly concern pop culture.

1 History
2 Discography
3 References
4 External links
- 4.1 Interviews and live reviews

[edit] History

CSS formed in September 2003, consisting of a group of friends.^[1] Their name was taken from a reported quote by Beyoncé, who allegedly declared that she was "tired of being sexy".^[2]

The band first achieved notoriety through the Internet. Some of its members, like Adriano Cintra, had been previously known in São Paulo's underground club scene, but not outside of the local alternative subculture. Others, like Lovefoxxx, were owners of popular fotolog and flickr pages. Their collective band fotolog also gained popularity and their songs were frequently downloaded from Trama Virtual's website (a Brazilian website loosely similar to MySpace Music). Trama Virtual invested heavily in the band, inviting a series of Brazilian and British journalists to report on them. Articles were printed in several Brazilian magazines and the British newspaper The Guardian,^[3] whose reporter, Peter Culshaw, was invited to see the band playing just before their signing for the debut, at a club in São Paulo. He predicted that they "could be the biggest band ever to come out of South America".^[4] Several songs by CSS were featured in mainstream media: "Meeting Paris Hilton" was featured in the Latin American broadcasting of The Simple Life, "Superafim" was used in the Brazilian version of the Big Brother reality show, and "Computer Heat" was used in the South American version of the game The Sims 2: Nightlife, including a version in Simlish. Still without a record deal, they released two independent EPs in 2004, and played that year at TIM Festival. Their song 'Patins' was written by Lovefoxx and is about her previous relationship with band member Adriano Cintra.

In 2005, they signed with the Trama Virtual label, and in October their first album was released in Brazil, along with an 7-track EP that was sold at concerts. A limited edition version of the album had a CD-R included, so that the buyer could burn a copy of the album onto the CD-R to give away as a gift.^[5] In Brazil the album has reportedly sold 5,000 copies to date, but neither the album nor the singles have reached charts. Two music videos were also released: "Off The Hook" and "Alala". "Off the Hook" was directed by guitar player Ana Rezende, and filmed at the home of band members Carolina Parra and Adriano Cintra, where CSS recorded most of their songs.

In the beginning of 2006, CSS signed with Sub Pop to release their international debut album. The first single, released in June 6, was "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above", with an accompanying video directed by Cat Solen. In July, along with DJ Diplo and funk group Bonde do Rolê, they began their first international tour.

CSS sold as many as 60,000 copies in the US and Europe up to February 2007 (according to journalist Lucio Ribeiro in Folha de São Paulo).^[6]

They played at various festivals across Europe in the summer of 2007, and were due to play Lollapalooza on 4 August 2007 but they were held behind by United Airlines at New York Airport and missed it.^[7] They did arrive in time for their performance at Virgin Festival in Baltimore the next day.

Cansei de Ser Sexy performing at Rock en Seine in August 2007

CSS caught an unlikely break when their song "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" was used in a worldwide television commercial by Apple Inc. for the iPod Touch. An 18-year-old British student, Nick Haley, used the song in a homemade 30-second commercial for the iPod Touch that he created and then posted on the video sharing site YouTube on September 11, 2007.^[8] Creative executives from Apple's advertising agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, saw Haley's creation, contacted him, and enlisted him to remake it as a broadcast version.^[9] The spot began airing in the U.S. on October 28, 2007, and later in Japan and Europe. Due to the song's exposure in the US, it hit #63[1][2] on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest charting single by a Brazilian band in the history of the chart. Coincidentally, the same song had been used in a promotion for the competing Zune media player a year prior.^[10] In March 2008, the music video for the song amassed over 112 million views on YouTube, making it the most-viewed video on the site, but it has since been removed.

Their singles "Alala" and "Off The Hook" have been featured in the video game Forza Motorsport 2. FIFA 08 also features "Off The Hook".^{[citation needed]}

In April 2008, Iracema Trevisan left the band; Adriano Cintra replaced her on bass guitar. The band is currently working with a session drummer. ^[11]

As of April 28, 2008, the new single "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" is available as a free download from the CSS website and other sources. It is taken from the band's forthcoming second album Donkey, to be released July 21, 2008.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Cansei de Ser Sexy (LP, Trama) - 2005 (Brazil)
Cansei de Ser Sexy (LP, Sub Pop/Warner) - 2006 (International) UK #69
Donkey (LP, Sub Pop/Warner) - July 21, 2008

[edit] EPs

Em Rotterdam Já É uma Febre (EP, independent) - 2004
A Onda Mortal / Uma Tarde com PJ (EP, independent) - 2004
CSS SUXXX (EP, Trama) - 2005 (Brazil)

[edit] Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions						Album
Year	Song	BRA	UK	IRE	CAN	U.S.	U.S. Rock	Album
2006	"Alala"	–	89	–	–	–	–	Cansei de Ser Sexy
2006	"Off the Hook"	–	43	–	–	–	–
2007	"Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above"	–	39	37	–	–	–
	"Alcohol"	–	–	–	–	–	–
	"Music Is My Hot Hot Sex"	25	–	–	12	63	–
2008	"Rat Is Dead (Rage)"	–	–	–	–	–	–	Donkey