the indescribable intimacy of liniker’s new video

There is an indestructible truth at the heart of Liniker Barros’ new video and song, “Intimidade” (“Intimacy”), the second single from the latest album with her band, Liniker e os Caramelows, Goela Abaixo. It is a truth of everlasting love, of a quiet and boundless openness, of a comfort beyond words — and of an ineffable sadness known as saudade locally, a feeling that Brazilians have been masterfully placing into bossa nova since inventing that indescribably emotional music 60 years ago.    

In the clips, beautifully shot by director Sabrina Duarte high above a sleeping, dusk-lit Sao Paulo, at an apartment inside Edificio Copan, the famed Oscar Niemeyer-designed landmark, Liniker, a singing superstar who is one of the Brazil’s most famous Black trans women, and her lover, played by the actress/singer/rapper and activist Linn da Quebrada, share a series of moments that give the song its title.

Liniker’s divinely tangential delivery, almost spoken and breathy, mix with the sensual lyrics to describe a kind of skin-level affection that is actually deeper than words, while also hinting at a sexuality that’s central to the best love affairs. The couple is sharing a moment before soon being apart once more. But as “Intimidade” is also a soft Brazilian bossa, torchy and still — the only sounds on the track are an acoustic guitar accompanying Liniker’s voice and piano — there is a layer of melancholy present. The sadness and longing always on the doorstep of a current happiness. It’s the kind of song that dares you not to feel.