About CSS
CSS .mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-smallPortuguese: seʁ ˈsɛksi], English lit. " tired of being sexy") is a Brazilian rock band from São Paulo. The band was labelled as part of the explosion of the new rave scene of the late 2000s. CSS releases songs in both Portuguese and English, something which allowed them to develop a significant audience in the anglosphere in their formative years. In 2011 founding member Adriano Cintra left the band, which indirectly led to CSS becoming inactive between 2013 and 2019. The band reformed without Cintra in 2019, at first planning to simply play one gig in São Paulo, but its success drove the members to return full-time.
CSS formed in September 2003, consisting of a group of friends. Their name was taken from a reported quote by Beyoncé, who allegedly declared that she was "tired of being sexy".
The band first garnered fame through the internet. Some of its members, like Adriano Cintra, and Wendi Bishop, had been previously known in São Paulo's underground club scene, but not outside of the local alternative subculture. Others, like Lovefoxxx, were the owners of popular Fotolog and Flickr pages. Their collective band fotolog also gained popularity and their songs were frequently downloaded from Trama Virtual's website. Several songs by CSS were featured in mainstream media, for example "Meeting Paris Hilton" was featured in the Latin American broadcasting of The Simple Life, "Superafim" was used in the Brazilian version of Big Brother. Still unsigned, they released two independent EPs—Em Rotterdam Já É uma Febre in 2004, and A Onda Mortal / Uma Tarde com PJ in January 2005—and played at the TIM Festival in 2004.
In 2005, they signed with the Trama Virtual label, and in October their first album, Cansei de Ser Sexy, was released in Brazil, along with the seven-track EP CSS Suxxx, which was sold at concerts. A limited edition version of the album had a blank CD-R included, so the buyer could burn a copy of the album to give away as a gift. In Brazil, the album has reportedly sold 5,000 copies to date, but neither the album nor the singles have charted. Two music videos were also released, "Off the Hook" and "Alala", their two big hits, and were directed by guitar player Ana Rezende, and filmed at the home of band members Carolina Parra and Cintra, where CSS recorded most of their songs.
In early 2006, CSS signed with Sub Pop to release their international debut album, Cansei de Ser Sexy. The first single was "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above", released on June 6, with an accompanying video directed by Cat Solen. In July 2006, along with DJ Diplo and funk group Bonde do Rolê, they began their first international tour. By 2007, CSS had sold as many as 60,000 copies in Europe and the United States.
They played at various festivals across Europe in the summer of 2007. The band were also scheduled to play at the American festival Lollapalooza on August 4, 2007, but were left stranded at LaGuardia Airport en route to Chicago after an overbooking error. They did arrive in time for their performance at Virgin Festival in Baltimore the next day.
CSS came to wider attention when their song "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" was used in a worldwide television commercial by Apple Inc. for the iPod. Due to the song's exposure in the United States, it charted at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest-charting single in the United States by a Brazilian band to date. Coincidentally, the same song had been used in a promotion for the competing Zune media player a year prior.
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