Singer-songwriter Melina Diehl’s elegantly accessible debut EP, My Favorite Pain, refreshingly dispenses with the stylistic and stereotypical preconceptions of what it means to be a Brazilian female musician.

“I told my producer ‘Please don’t put a pineapple on my head,’ you know, evoke the Brazilian artist cliché,” she says laughing good-naturedly.

Melina was born and raised in Brazil, but instead of gravitating towards the balmy sophistication of bossa nova and other Latin music indigenous to her homeland, she became enamored with international pop music and rock n’ roll. Her teenage musical world revolved around The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and, her primary influence as a vocalist, The Carpenters.

“I discovered a Carpenters’ tape when I was a child and started to listen to it over and over again, singing along without knowing the meaning of the words. The first song on the album was ‘Close to You,’ I was already in love from the first line,” Melina recalls. “ Now I understand the magic, I was touched by a Burt Bacharach’s melody interpret by a singer of Karen Carpenter’s caliber.”

After working with different bands and getting a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Melina studied vocal performance and songwriting at LA’s prestigious Musician’s Institute. As a result of this formal schooling she was able to access and hone her musicality to its fullest potential. The result of this transformative time is her debut EP.

My Favorite Pain is an exquisite collection of heartfelt adult contemporary pop with buttery and breathtakingly expressive vocals, and a compositional sense informed by the esteemed songwriting tradition of Gershwin and Cole Porter, the jewel-like melodies of the Beatles and the Beach Boys and a sun-kissed touch of Brazilian music traditions. Despite English not being her first language, her lyrics are master crafted, brimming with refreshing imagery, sage insights, and charming wit. Standouts are the infectious jazzy folk “If You Invite Me To Go Up”—a female perspective on the joy and pent-up passion of first time intimacy with a new love interest—the gorgeously haunting title track, and the sweetly profound “Raisin Heart.”

Currently, Melina is working on songs to record for a debut full-length album.