Ellen Oléria Essentials

Ellen Oléria took her career to a new level as the inaugural winner of The Voice Brasil. But fame would have found her regardless, thanks to her extraordinary take on Brazilian pop: bossa nova, soul and R&B through an Afrofuturist lens, bridging the sounds of her upbringing in Brazil’s centre with her African roots. She’s as apt to rap (“Afrofuturo”) as she is to belt out a gospel-tinged number (“Anunciação”), scat-sing over supple funk (“Pedro Falando Com o Reflexo”) and let her voice dance over fleet-fingered piano (“Mandingueiro”); or, as on “Haiti”, weave an evocative acoustic tapestry.