Entre o batente e o grito: resistências possíveis no cotidiano do trabalhador em letras de canção

Abstract

This article analyzes the lyrics of the songs “Rodo Cotidiano” (O Rappa), “Be Myself” (Charlie Brown Jr.), and “Stab” (Planet Hemp) as forms of resistance to alienation, exhaustion, and oppression in everyday working life. Urban popular song is understood as a literary language that expresses collective experiences and social criticism. The objective is to examine how these songs denounce productivist logic and construct discourses of contestation. Specifically, the study seeks to: investigate how lyrical subjects narrate dissatisfaction with urban life; interpret the desire for authenticity in the face of social pressures; and reflect on song lyrics as sociopolitical critique and as a form of cultural resistance. The study is grounded in the concepts of literature of resistance (Bosi, 1992; Gonçalves and Bonnici, 2005), literature of testimony and escrevivência (Seligmann-Silva, 2005; Silva Belo, 2020), articulating these theoretical frameworks with the textual and thematic analysis of the lyrics, while also engaging with contemporary readings that extend these discussions to everyday life, as proposed by Silva (2020). It is concluded that these compositions function as devices of contestation and symbolic elaboration of the urban worker’s experience.