Newborn Smiles at Reggae Every Day

Why does baby João Luiz smile every time reggae plays?

The clip is just a few seconds long, but it stopped the internet in its tracks: newborn João Luiz — nicknamed Luizinho — breaks into a wide grin the moment reggae starts playing. His mother, 23-year-old Maria Heloiza Araújo from Recife, says it happens almost every single day and is no coincidence at all.

How did reggae become part of the pregnancy?

Maria Heloiza's story is more layered than the viral video suggests. Despite planning her pregnancy, she did not feel an immediate rush of love when she saw the positive test — a feeling she talks about with rare honesty. "I thought a powerful, overwhelming love would come straight away, and it didn't," she told Crescer magazine. For the first months she even avoided touching her bump. The turning point came around the eighth month — and music played a central role in getting her there.

Looking for a way to bond with her unborn son, she turned to the reggae bands she had always loved: Edson Gomes, Ponto de Equilíbrio and Maneva. "I tried to build a connection with him through music," she explained. Songs about love in a beautiful, peaceful way became her bridge to motherhood.

What happened on the day Luizinho was born?

João Luiz was born on 6 July by caesarean section — a choice Maria Heloiza says was the right one for her. There was one wish she could not fulfil, though: she had hoped to have reggae playing in the operating theatre. "The first thing I asked when I entered the surgical block was whether I could put on music. I was told there was no sound system and that the doctors did not operate with music," she recalled. She would have chosen a laid-back reggae track, the same style that had accompanied her through nine months of pregnancy.

Is the viral smile just a one-off?

Not at all. Maria Heloiza says Luizinho has smiled at reggae many times before the video went viral. One of her favourite moments is a clip of her husband singing Ponto de Equilíbrio's song "Estar com Você" to the newborn — the same song the couple loves and played throughout the pregnancy. The bond built in the womb, it seems, carried right through to birth.