It was raining a lot in Maresias, on the coast of São Paulo. But the sky opened just before Nando Reis sing The second sunclassic in my friend’s voice Cassia Eller (1962-2001). He is the one leading the new Corona Luau MTV 2025which pays tribute to the singer this Wednesday 10, the day she would have been 63 years old. The program will launch at noon, on demand, on Pluto TV, on the official YouTube channels of MTV Brasil and Corona.
This takes us back to 2002, when Luau MTV presented the last record of Cássia Eller’s lifetime. And the last time she and Nando met. The show was recorded on December 19, 2001. Ten days later, came the announcement of the singer’s death at the age of 39, the victim of a heart attack. She was at the peak of her career, her album recorded on Acústico MTV being one of Universal Music’s best-sellers.
Sarah Oliveiraformer MTV VJ and currently presenter of programs such as Minha Canção, on Radio Eldoradoahead of Acústico and Luau with Cássia. She was close to the singer. This luau was also the farewell between the two.
“Before taping the Corona Luau MTV 2025, I watched (the MTV Luau) to remember. I was very emotional and I missed Cássia a lot,” says Sarah.
Nando’s love
In 2001, Nando arrived in a very beachy pose to record the luau in Costa do Sauípe, Bahia. Barefoot and with a brown hat that protected him from the sun, he sang the touching song Reliquary and the blow The second sun with the friend.
The two men exchanged compliments, smiles and knowing looks. “When you move on to her voice, the music reveals itself,” he said of the singer’s interpretations of his compositions.
“Everything became a hit with her voice, from Nirvana to the Beatles to Marisa Monte,” Sarah recalls. Re-recording the luau, of course, affected his and Nando’s feelings. “We were very excited to relive all of that.”
In the special 2025 show, recorded on this rainy day in Maresias, Nando is accompanied by percussionist Lan Lanh, Cássia’s former group, singer Céu and the group Os Garotin. This even changed one of the sections of All the starsa song written for her friend, as Sarah tells it.
“Instead of singing to him, ‘The tone with which I sing my songs, for your voice, seems accurate,’ he said, ‘My music, in your voice, was so beautiful,'” the presenter anticipates.
Singer Céu and Os Garotin are also doing a sort of luau tour. They performed in Brasilia and Santa Catarina and, on the 14th and 21st, they will be in Rio and São Paulo respectively.
The importance of MTV in the 2000s
Sarah was chosen by Cássia to present Acústico in 2001. The presenter was also in charge of the station’s flagship programs, such as Disk MTV, a show with daily charts and music videos.
Corona Luau MTV 2025, however, comes at a delicate time for the broadcaster. In November, the chain announced the closure of most of its international channels. In Brazil, with the exception of Luau which begins on Wednesday, the majority of programming is anchored in realities such as On vacation with an ex.
In the 2000s, during the time of Cássia’s Luau and when Sarah was working on the channel, MTV Brasil was at the height of its importance and influence. The international channel began in 1981 with the broadcast of the music video Video killed radio star (Video killed radio star), from the duo The Buggles. The broadcaster will arrive in Brazil nine years later.
“Here, MTV Brasil was our Spotify, our YouTube, our social networks… Everyone was focused on watching the clips and finding out who was going to be in first position,” explains Sarah. “MTV has always been a beacon in terms of music, but not only that: it was a behavioral and social beacon. MTV had a great desire, and I always say this phrase, to train citizens, to train them to think deeper.”
Sarah remembers her time working at the station fondly – but, at the time, she had no idea of the station’s impact. According to her, with social networks, “people have lost their curiosity and their subjectivity”.
“MTV provoked this thought: turn off the television, go read a book, let’s talk about citizenship, about sexually transmitted infections, talk openly about drugs, about politics, about what it means to be politically conscious today…”, he comments. “Twenty-five years later, I’m beginning to understand this legacy.”
Service – ‘Corona Luau MTV 2025’
- Beginning: December 10, from noon, on demand, on Pluto TV, on the official YouTube channels of MTV Brasil and Corona.
Service – ‘Corona Luau MTV’ Live
Rio de Janeiro
- Date: December 14, 2025 (Sunday)
- Location: Museum of Tomorrow – Praça Mauá, 1, Centro
- House opening hours: 3 p.m.
- Age classification: Over 18 years old
Sao Paulo
- Date: December 21, 2025 (Sunday)
- Location: External audience at the Ibirapuera Auditorium. Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n – Gate 10 – Ibirapuera Park
- House opening hours: 3 p.m.
- Age classification: Over 18 years old
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