How Carminho’s ‘Poor Things’ Performance Saved Bella Baxter

The sci-fi/dark comedy film “Poor Things” – which just won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture and an award for Emma Stone for Best Performance by a Female Actor, both in the category of Musical or Comedy – begins in black and white and then bursts into technicolor once the lead character Bella Baxter escapes her carefully contained life in London and visits Lisbon, Portugal, the first stop on her journey of self-discovery. The Frankenstein-esque Baxter finally gets to explore on her own and is mesmerized after she stumbles across the Portuguese singer Carminho playing a melancholy song in the traditional style known as fado. Although fado is usually performed in tiny, dimly lit clubs and Carminho was filmed on an outdoor balcony, the moment is still intimate thanks to the emotion between the two women, which is captured in Stone’s eyes.

Carminho, who hails from Lisbon and is the daughter of fado singer Teresa Siqueira, spoke to Pollstar about the tradition of fado, penning the song “O quarto” for “Poor Things” and performing in the film. A full version of the song, “O quarto (fado Menor),” was released in late December.

Carminho released her most recent album, Portuguesa, in March 2023 and it was nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Portuguese Language Album. Last year she also took the stage with Coldplay during the band’s stop at Estádio Cidade de Coimbra in Coimbra, Portugal, and performed before Pope Francis and an audience of 1.5 million people during World Youth Day in Lisbon.

Pollstar: For readers who aren’t familiar with fado, what can you share about the genre? Your mother also performed fado.
Carminho: Yes, my mother is a performer and she also had a fado house – that is the little club where we perform fado live in Lisbon. Fado I can compare directly with your American blues.

It’s a very traditional [genre] the way you learn is from the elders and there’s an oral expression that you learn from all the players. … There’s very simple lines … but with a lot of depth. … You change the lyrics from the [traditional] songs and what I try to work on in my albums. It’s about the manipulation of the genre. You have these songs that are 150 or 200 years old and then new lyrics …

It’s a musical expression of the soul. It’s played with instruments like the Portuguese guitar, the classic guitar and acoustic bass. And the singer is a soloist … who sings poems. The atmosphere to play fado is dark clubs with candles and wine … It’s not amplified with microphones – it’s about the acoustics of the place. It’s very intimate.

How did you end up performing in “Poor Things”?
I just received an email [from director Yorgos Lanthimos] and request for a cameo in the film singing fado. After that we met by Zoom and tried to figure out which song he was looking for … I suggested the presence of the Portuguese guitar because it’s a unique instrument and it’s very characteristic of the fado genre. So he was very happy with that – but he didn’t want a man to play the guitar. He suggested I [should] play the guitar, but I had never played it before.

I didn’t say I had never played before. I just said give me one week and then I’ll respond if I’m gonna be playing the guitar. So I practiced a lot and I [confirmed] that I was able to do it. And also we discussed the theme because he wanted something traditional but at the same time the film is very surreal … We don’t understand if we are in one era or time, but [my character is] dressed like the 18th century.

We choose the most primary song of fado – it’s just two chords. … The theme is called “O quarto (fado Menor)” because fado Menor is the name of the musical part … It’s more or less public domain. I suggested that song and I proposed some lyrics … I think he liked it [because] there’s this contemporarily involved.

How do the lyrics fit the scene or the movie overall?
The lyrics are a game with the words empty and whole. It’s about a room – quarto is the room – and a room where I’m alone inside … But I’m stuck inside and there’s no space for anything else. The room is more or less describing her soul. There’s a lot of cold in this small room [sings “quarto tão pequeno”] that comes in like a poison. There is the loneliness and I … the cold comes in too but the three doesn’t make one. It’s so full of nothing, you come in and you don’t see me because I’m almost not there. [sings: “Este quarto é de nenhum”] This room is for nobody. [Sings “Coração que se partiu”] – a heart that broke and that is without anything to give, in this empty room where there’s nothing else that fits.

This is my interpretation, of course, but there’s a change in the character of Bella – it’s the first time she sees the world, the first time she understands the world is not so perfect. And that fado scene is more or less like the destiny of growing. If you grow, you suffer and you have to face some difficulties, and I think that was the moment she realized she was alone in the world.

How many takes did you have to do for the film?
Before they shot the film they had two or three rehearsals and then it was live on set. So that was exactly the piece we made in the scene. I’m actually playing that music for real and I’m singing that take and the take is on the soundtrack. Bella Baxter was in the scene with me and also the background actors.

What was it like working with Emma Stone?
She’s an incredible person and actress, of course, and it was beautiful to be received by her on the set and by all the cast and all the people working there. She was an incredible co-star and showed me such kindness.

What’s next for you?
I’m working on my next album. … Also, I’m gonna have a tour in the United States in the fall. … [And] some collaborations, but I cannot reveal too much yet.

Anything else you wanted to share?
This film was so beautiful for me. Not just because I’m in it. But because I saw the Portuguese language and the Portuguese culture of fado being so beautifully represented … And it’s beautiful to see how this art is very simple but can make a huge impact on a community.