Framingham Brazilian-American influencer, singer Lorenna Gomes releases single, 'Capitão'

FRAMINGHAM — Lorenna Gomes is a woman with a lot energy and many irons in the fire.

The 2010 Marian High grad is a Portuguese- and English-speaking social media influencer, a self-styled makeup artist, a model, the owner of a small business that creates personalized artwork for parties, and the mother of two young children. And before all that, Gomes worked for seven years as a dental assistant.

Now Gomes, 31, has embarked on yet another venture: following her lifelong passion to have a career as a singer/songwriter. Her new single, “Capitão,” was released Sept. 30.

Making a YouTube music video

With a funk-pop beat that’s popular in Brazil, "Capitão" ("Captain" in Portuguese) has simple lyrics and a steel-drum groove made to appeal to her fans in the Southern Hemisphere, where it’s spring now and summer dance parties are on the horizon. There’s an accompanying YouTube video, too, filmed at Atlantic Marina & Yacht Club in Winthrop, with Gomes and bikini-clad female dancers doing a whole lot of booty shakin’ on a boat and onshore with the skyline of Boston in the background.

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It's original music, lighthearted and a distinct new vibe for Gomes, who in the past has sung covers of other artists’ songs and also regularly sings during Mass with her family at St. Tarcisius Parish on Waverly Street.

"The new single is a little bit different style from what I usually do,” Gomes told the Daily News in a recent phone interview. “But I like to look at music as more of an art form where you can transform yourself. Sometimes I want to be a powerful, sexy woman, and other times if I want to do another song where I'm more vulnerable, I can do that, too.”

Taking a deep dive into a music career is a step that required her to take a leap of faith, said Gomes, whose 103,000 Instagram followers regularly watch her as she discusses — often in both Portuguese and English — hair, modeling, makeup, travel, her home life and more.

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"I've been doing music ever since I was little, but I've never really pursued it and put a lot of effort into it,” said Gomes. She showed early talent as a child, participated in musical theater in high school, and made YouTube videos of herself singing, but was too self-critical to pursue a musical career, she said.

Her family's from Governador Valadares, Brazil

Gomes’ mother and father, Dircilene DeMesquita and Gilmar DeOliveira, moved here more than 30 years ago from Governador Valadares in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Her mother formerly owned Thiaggos Video and Photo Productions in Framingham, and her father founded several restaurants, including Welly’s in Marlborough, and is now in the construction business. Gomes was born at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham.

“I come from a musical background. My parents and grandparents are all musicians, and they all play instruments, and they all sing,” said Gomes. When they were young, Gomes’ mother and uncle gained a measure of fame singing on the radio in Brazil.

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On “Capitão,” Gomes sings in Portuguese, but she will soon release other songs in English, too.

“I am bilingual. I want to target both audiences,” Gomes said. "I am American; I am both. I don’t want to leave any part of me out.”

Bilingual education, family support

Gomes is working with an international crew on her new music. Music producer Efrain Quiles has a Hudson studio where she records; the mastering engineers, Fragancia Sound Studio, are in New York; her beatmaker, Eithan Jacome, is from Colombia; Symphonic Distribution of Tampa, Florida, is marketing her music; and her videos are shot by Caique and Drielly Castro of Studio C Films in Framingham.

Growing up in Framingham, Gomes remained seeped in her heritage, and attended bilingual education programs at Potter Road Elementary School and took a class in Portuguese at Fuller Middle School. She speaks Portuguese fluently but admits writing it is more difficult.

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At St. Tarcisius Parish, where Mass is celebrated in Portuguese and English, Gomes sings with her husband, Fabricio Dantas Ferreira, who plays the guitar and is originally from Anápolis Goiás, Brazil. The two met at the church’s youth group.

“I sing in church once a month and that's been my whole life ever since I was a teenager," she said. "I've been singing in the front there with me and my husband, he also plays the guitar.”

Gomes’ family, especially her husband, have been the biggest supporters of her musical aspirations, she said. Her parents often help out by watching her children, Isabella Mesquita Ferreira, 6, and Samuel Franciso Gomes Ferreira, 1. Brother Thiaggo Mesquita Gomes, and maternal grandparents, Dirson and Maria Helena DeMesquita, who all live in Framingham, too, are also behind her.

“They they're like a hundred percent my supporters and they want to see me pursuing my dream,” Gomes said.

Childbirth and a medical crisis

That support was especially important after the birth of Samuel, who was born with craniosynostosis, a birth defect in which the bones of the skull fuse together too early. The condition, which affects 1 in every 2,500 babies born in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was never detected on an ultrasound and made Samuel's birth very difficult.

Four months after he was born, Samuel required surgery to relieve pressure on his brain and to allow his skull to grow normally. And, because the baby’s head bones were not soft, the pressure during the birth caused Gomes' spine to leak fluid, which required several procedures to patch her spine, she said.

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Two days after the baby was born, Gomes said: “I started noticing a huge buzzing in my head and I told my husband there is something really wrong. The next day when I tried to get up, I was having these mini-seizures and could only walk bent over.” After three attempts by doctors to patch her spine, she had to lay completely flat on her back for 24 hours for healing to occur.

Today, on the other side of the crisis, both Samuel and Gomes are doing well. Samuel had to wear a helmet for six months to keep the bones in his head properly in place, and he is brought to a neurosurgeon every year to make sure there is no refusion of the bones while he is still young.

Many musical genres

Facing those medical complications made Gomes more determined than ever to build a career in music.

“What if I hadn’t tried doing it? I’m trying my hardest and whatever happens, happens,” she said. “If it doesn’t happen, I can say happily that I tried.”

Musically, she said she’s leaving her options open and doesn’t want to stick to a certain genre.

“I want to be singing my moods, when I want to sing it. That’ why (on “Capitão”) I say, ‘I don’t know where this wave is going to take me,’ but I know the rhythm is good and it’s going to make you want to dance.”

Nancy Olesin is a staff writer and editor for the Daily News. Follow @WickedLocalArts. Got a story idea? Email her at nolesin@wickedlocal.com.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Framingham's Lorenna Gomes singing for her Brazilian and American fans