“Acorda, Pedrinho”: discover the story behind the biggest hit in Brazil

“Wake up Pedrinho / There’s a championship today / Come dance with me / You’ll see that I’ll screw you up.”

This Friday (27), at this stage of the “championship”, it is unlikely to be able to spend much time on social media without crossing, for at least 15 seconds, the verses of this hit.

Whether on a TikTok, a reels or Instagram stories, music “Wake up, Pedro” at the moment, tops the viral list of the Spotify worldwide and leads the most listened in Brazil for the 15th day in a row.

The soundtrack has no defined object. It can serve as a background for any publication, from an influencer putting on makeup, a beautiful football pitch, even a video of a surgery. This “Pedrinho” is called to wake up, no matter the situation.

The authors of the viral are the members of the band from Curitiba Young Dionysus . Self-titled as a “boteco boy band”, the answer to most of the questions that arise from this success is close to the center of Curitiba, in the well-known “bar do Dionísio”, which the group is named after.

The song, which also gives the name to their first album, was until then an inside joke between them, but now it is responsible for filling the band’s schedule.

In an interview with CNN the members tell the story of the group, explain who Pedrinho is, why he needs to wake up and report how the last few days have been since the explosion of the hit.

From childhood friendship to Dionisio’s bar

Jovem Dionisio is formed by the vocalist Bernardo Pasquali (Belni) the bassist Gustavo Karam the keyboardist Bernardo Hey (Ber Hey) the guitarist Rafael Mendes (Fufa) and the drummer Gabriel Mendes (Mendão) .

The five are childhood friends and studied together at the same school in Curitiba. Karam recalls that it was at this time that they started playing together, under the name “Huff”, but the repertoire was restricted to covers by other artists.

“We started playing real even when everyone else started in college,” recalls Ber Hey. As they began their graduations at PUC-PR, presentations in bars, parties and brews began to appear.

In 2019, they decided that they would release their own music. So, in April of that year, during the planning of what would be the band’s first EP, “Dança Entre Casais”, they decided to rename the band.

At that time, Ber Hey remembers that he started going to Lanchonete Aquarius, in the Juvevê neighborhood of Curitiba, with co-workers from the law firm, where he was doing an internship in Law.

The place, better known as “Dionisio’s bar”, because of the name of the owner, became a meeting point for bandmates. When deciding on which name they would adopt for the release of their first EP, they decided to honor the owner of their favorite bar. This is how the “boteco boy band”, Jovem Dionisio, was born.

Success during the pandemic and “straight top” remix

Jovem Dionisio appears just under a year before the pandemic. During this period, the boys released a series of solo singles and in partnerships with other artists from “Nova MPB”.

One of the first to be released was “Pontos de Exclamação”, released in March 2020, which showed a more “room pop” side of the band, with intimate lyrics and calm beats.

The song was one of Jovem Dionísio’s first hits – although much smaller than “Acorda, Pedrinho” – and even won a “straight top” remix by Vintage Culture and Future Class.

The following year, realizing that they shared a similar audience on streaming platforms, the people of Curitiba formed a partnership with the Cariocas of Gilsons. “Algum Ritmo”, which was released accompanied by a clip, also brought good repercussion to the band.

The final balance showed a strong growth of Jovem Dionisio in the pandemic. On Spotify alone, the number of listeners jumped from 20,000 to about 1.5 million.

Still in 2021, they decided to start production on their debut album. Karam says that, due to Covid-19, the first album was made during periods of isolation of the group on a farm belonging to the uncle of one of the members.

First, there were two short-term retreats, approximately one week, for the composition of the songs. “Every day we had to come out with something close to what we wanted music to be. We put together about 14 songs,” recalls Karam.

To complete the production, Jovem Dionísio spent a month with the album’s producers and the band’s artistic director to smooth the edges of the new songs.

That’s how “Acorda, Pedrinho” was born, which, like the band’s name, comes with a tribute referring to Dionisio’s bar.

Who is the much talked about Pedrinho?

“Pedrinho is a great friend of ours. he frequents the bar [do Dionísio], has known us for a long time there. He always laughs together, plays pool together,” says Karam.

The gentleman, in his early 60s, is known by locals for his habit of taking a nap sitting at a table in the bar.

“He leans against his little table, in his corner and takes a nap sitting at the bar”, explains Karam. “Have a beer, another, sleep, wake up and come back”, adds Belni.

They explain that their friends from Dionisio’s bar are older, and Pedrinho’s naps are an old inside joke among everyone.

In the profile of the “bar do Dionísio” on the Foursquare platform, there is a record from 2013, which already showed Pedrinho sleeping. “Pedrinho’s birthday, but he couldn’t take it!”, wrote the post.

“Pedrinho is everyone’s pet. Everyone loves Pedrinho”, says Belni.

The part of the lyrics that says “today has a championship” is a reference to the frequent disputes that take place on the pool table of the Dionisio bar.

Practically in unison, Belni, Karam and Ber Hey say: “Pedrinho is good at pool!”

“If it’s worth a beer there, then he wins without dancing”, jokes Ber Hey.

“He knows every unevenness of that table there like no one else. There’s a pocket you should never try to throw in it because it’s only for those who know [Risos]”, adds Karam.

Release of the album and the hit “Acorda, Pedrinho”

On March 24 this year, Jovem Dionísio released their debut album: “Acorda, Pedrinho”.

The launch event took place in Curitiba in the only possible place, a party with pool, barbecue and champagne at Dionisio’s bar (photos below).

“We posted on Instagram that the record was going to come out. A lot of people went there. Pedrinho was there, Dionísio was there, we celebrated with our friends. We took a sound box, left the songs on the record playing, and we were drinking and dancing”, recalls Belni.

At that moment of release, no one in the band imagined what was to come in about two months. Karam recalls that it was on the Mother’s Day holiday, on May 8, through a cousin of his, that he had his first clue of success on TikTok.

“He came to tell me that it had hit TikTok, but I went to see it and there were, like, 200 videos. I was like, ‘Whoa, where’s it?’, but I think he must have noticed that the amount went up fast,” he says.

A few days later, the numbers have already started to grow exponentially. THE CNN can report this growth in recent days.

On Spotify, the most used music streaming platform in the world, Jovem Dionísio leads the list of most listened to songs in Brazil for the 15th day in a row. In addition, in the playlist that ranks the most viral songs, since Wednesday (25), “Acorda, Pedrinho” is at the top.

Instagram reels are the best representation of the phenomenon. While on Wednesday (25), there were about 191,000 publications on the platform with the Jovem Dionísio soundtrack, this Friday (27), the number is already 327,000. Some of the publications, made by influencers, accumulate millions of views.

On TikTok, the number of videos created with “Acorda, Pedrinho” in the background jumped from 211,300 on Wednesday (25), to 266,600 this Friday (27).

The most unusual uses of the videos was also a surprise for the members. As influencers use the song to show off their makeup before the party, and ballers show off their prettiest moves, Karam remembers he got scared when he “saw a knee surgeon posting.”

“The surgeon’s got me, man. [Risos] It was a guy who operated on my cousin! Then my cousin showed me a video of the surgery that he posted and said: ‘Man, look at the music he put on.’. And it was a guy really showing what surgery was like,” he said.

Belni points out that the success on social media was a complete surprise for the band. “We didn’t use TikTok when we made ‘Wake up, Pedrinho’. I had never seen a TikTok in my life. I knew what it was, but I didn’t get it,” she says.

“Now, we started to become more focused and understanding what goes on in there. We even put Mendão in charge as the ‘TikTok section’ of the band, he’s been making some videos there”, explains Karam.

“Now we are worried about our sound on stage”

The success of “Acorda, Pedrinho” does not seem to put any pressure on the members to try to score another hit on social networks. “We make music that we like. I would never make a song trying to make it go viral on TikTok,” says Karam.

Belni explains that their priority, at the moment, is to rehearse the show to deliver the songs from the album in the best possible way live.

Opportunity to see them live will not be lacking. They already have shows scheduled until at least December, including major festivals, such as Primavera Sound, in São Paulo.

where are we located? pic.twitter.com/ppzVUWWTuV

— YOUNG DIONISIO (@jovemdionisio) May 10, 2022

Shows in other capitals, such as Fortaleza, Manaus, Belém, Brasília, Goiânia, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro are also confirmed.

“We already did a show in Curitiba, which was the beginning of the album tour. As soon as we finish the interview, we’ll have everyone waiting to sit down and talk about the show. Which song worked? Does anyone have to go heavier? And which one was not good?”, says the vocalist.

“Now our focus is to go out and put on a show, and we want to rock everything. That’s our focus,” she adds.