Ive Mendes – Ive Mendes (Mr Bongo)

This statuesque Brazilian diva is already big news in most parts of the world, and her debut, produced by Robin Millar, the chap behind Sade, is her attempt to crack Britain. This is summery, sultry and sensual stuff. Perfect, dare we say, for the bedroom stereo. ****

OK Magazine, July 1, 2003

Ive Mendes – Ive Mendes

Dubbed the Brazilian Sade, Ive Mendes has already made a mark for herself in her home country, Spain and Asia. Her debut album features a collection of love songs in both English and Portuguese. The combination of her sultry personality and an incredible talent for writing and singing will surely win her plenty of fans over here too.

Hello Magazine, July 8, 2003

Ive Mendes

Mr Bongo MRBCD25

Mendes, a striking Brazilian discovery in both audio and visual terms, made new friends with her contribution to the Brighton-based Mr. Bongo label’s Brazilian Beats Vol. 3 album, released back in March. Her self-titled and almost entirely self-written debut set is produced by distinguished English helmsman Robin Millar, best known for helping to create the sonic sophistication of Sade. It’s a similarly upmarket story here, on a collection of songs that whisper softly and sweetly of such olive-tinted, late-night sultriness. As Mendes says herself, the nu-Brazil style that she represents is about far more that just The Girl From Ipanema, even if the music does exude that certain Gilberto-esque duskiness. She was born in Ceres to a farming family with Spanish, French, Portuguese and Brazilian heritage, and brings a cosmopolitan timbre to unmistakably measured Brazilian grooves. Mostly she sings in Portuguese, but converts seductively to English on Night Night (especially when she murmurs alluringly “you are the sexiest man I ever saw”) and on a winning cover of Chicago’s If You Leave Me Now. Irresistable first to last.

HMV Choice magazine, November/December 2002