From dreaming of being a player to success in agrofunk: who is Jeninho, from the hit 'Peão Todo Tatuado'

The story of the hit "Peão Todo Tatuado"
With one of the most played songs on Spotify, Jeninho, MC Peão, took a while to understand that he would follow the path of music and in his father's footsteps.
Son of Jenner Mello, a well-known music producer behind the scenes in the country music scene, Jenner de Melo Barboza Filho, aged 25, dreamed of being a football player. But in recent weeks, by reaching 3rd place in the Top 50, he has consolidated his artistic career once and for all and, now, celebrates the right decision off the field.
"From the age of 6 to 15, my life was football. I dedicated myself 100% to it during all these years", said Jeninho, MC Peão, in an interview with g1. The change of route came when he realized the difficulties of pursuing a career in sport without having connections in the field.
"I got older and understood more about football, about how things were. It wasn't just about playing football. Just like music, which isn't just about singing either. There's a whole process behind it. A whole gear has to turn for things to work out", analyzes the artist from Goiás.
So, Jeninho abandoned football and focused on completing high school. In his spare time, he frequented his father's studio, who, according to ECAD data, appears on more than two thousand tracks as a musician and/or producer and writes more than 450 compositions. Among the hits signed by him are "Regime Fechado" (Simone and Simaria), "Bebida na Ferida" (Zé Neto and Cristiano) and "Canto, bebo e choro" (Humberto and Ronaldo). "I started to see the creative process, choosing a repertoire, meeting artists... and I fell in love."
With no professional experience, he immersed himself in musical studies for a year at an arts school in the capital of Goiás, where he took singing, dancing, theater and instrument classes. "I was 100% layman when it comes to music, professionally speaking. I was just a listener. I had never sung. I learned everything from scratch."
Success as a composer
Before breaking out as a singer, Jeninho built a career as a country composer. According to him, composition was, for a long time, his main source of income.
"My career still couldn't sustain itself, so I worked composing songs for other artists."
He signed songs recorded by names like Naiara Azevedo, Diego & Arnaldo and Humberto & Ronaldo, but his first big national success came with "Chega e Senta", by John Amplificado. The hit reached number 1 in Brazil for a few weeks in 2021.
Jeninho, MC Peão, with Luan Pereira and Ana Castela, other representatives of agrofunk
Reproduction/Instagram
With it, Jeninho established himself as a composer. But despite the achievement, he didn't feel completely happy.
"I wanted something more. And I understood that this something more was my own career. My dream was to be up there on stage singing. Because the composer is backstage. And I wanted to be there in the middle, be part of that and live it too."
It was from that moment that the singer decided to put his musical career in the foreground. But even with his country background, he chose to invest in funk.
From MC Jeninho to MC Peão
Throughout the process, without any hits breaking out, Jeninho considered giving up music. But the sum of a few episodes made him realize that there was space to unite his country music references with the funk universe.
It all started in 2023, during the opening show for the recording of the DVD by the duo Ícaro & Gilmar, in Goiânia. At one point during the performance, he put on a hat and sang a country song. "It was the highlight of the show, because the audience was 100% country folk", recalls Jeninho.
Days later, he published a video on social media of the speech he gave on stage thanking the country side market. The content went viral and he gained more than 10 thousand followers.
The following year, Jeninho's father had a dream in which his son appeared wearing a hat. "My father called me and said that I had to wear a hat, that he had dreamed about it. And then he entered my WhatsApp and the photo was from that show where I was wearing the hat. Then he said: 'it's a sign, it's a confirmation'."
Jeninho listened to his father, but was unsure about the change in image.
"Me in a chain, cap and so on... The first thing we think about is what others will think, right? How am I going to do it? Is that it? I'm going to put the hat on my head out of nowhere and say that I wear a hat now?"
From funk to agrofunk: from MC Jeninho to MC Peão
Reproduction/Instagram
Some time later, he met with a friend in the studio to vent. And among the advice, Jeninho heard: "You sing funk in Goiânia, you have to be an MC with a hat."
"At the time, I felt like it was confirmation. I even went to eat a kebab next door to celebrate because I had gotten it right, my life was going to change."
On the same day, he composed the song "Chapeluda", which mixes funk beats with elements of country music, such as the accordion. The song went viral on social media and was shared by celebrities such as Ana Castela and Virginia Fonseca.
"It was a result that I had never had in my eight years of career."
Barretos and the turning point
After the success of "Chapeluda", the artist went viral at the Festa do Peão de Barretos, in 2025. During the ten days of the event, he camped out in a tent at the event trying to promote his story and the song "Maria Barretão", another agrofunk, a subgenre of country music in which stars such as Ana Castela and Luan Pereira were born.
"It was me with a tent, a song and a dream. I slept little, without any comfort, I slept with the air mattress full and woke up with it empty. But the people were really moved and helped me. And an energy was created around me. Things went very well. I arrived in Barretos with 50 thousand followers, I left there with 200 thousand."
But more than followers, he gained space at the festival. The track was played on the speakers of the event arena, the festival's main stage.
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"The artist who appears there in Barretos is being validated by the biggest party where the biggest artists, businessmen, influencers are... And that's where I appeared, so it gives me credibility. When I arrived from Barretos, my life was already heading to another level, another stage."
'Peeeeeeeão Todo Tatuado' did not win a partner
Although the artist considers Barretos an important point in his career due to the opportunity to show a little of his history, the consolidation national came a few weeks ago with "Peão Todo Tatuado".
The partnership with singer Mariana Fagundes was recorded in January and released in March. It soon went viral on social media and, once again, ended up on Virgínia Fonseca's social media. Last week, it appeared in third place on Spotify's TOP 50. The success caused Jeninho to postpone the release of the second part of the DVD "so as not to take the focus away from it".
"Peão Todo Tatuado" was composed in a hurry, with just a week left before the recording of the singer's DVD.
"I was exhausted from a series of shows, but I told my producer: 'Today I'm going to make the hit of my life'."
The composition was born backwards, starting with the dance part that went viral on TikTok and reaching the chorus, a part sung by Mariana Fagundes.
Mariana Fagundes with Jeninho, MC Peão
Reproduction/Instagram
"When 'peeeeeeãoooo' came out, I thought: 'this is going to get into people's heads'." trusted", reveals the artist.
He still praises Mariana's attitude towards recording, even without being enchanted by the track. "I thought it was really nice of her, you know. She trusts our feeling, our taste."
Challenge to consolidate image
With the success of the track and the accelerated growth of her career, MC Peão says that she tries to balance the pressure for new successes with the need to enjoy the moment.
"Sometimes the artist gets so worried about the next step that they forget to live what is happening."
While traveling the country, he continues to compose daily. Alone or with his team of composers. And he doesn't ask for another hit.
"One thing that reassures me, not being in any way arrogant, arrogant, but I trust my authorial part. This side doesn't scare me because I know I'm going to do it."
What he considers the main challenge, at the moment, is making the public associate the hit with the face behind the music.
"'Peão Todo Tatuado' is all over Brazil. But is MC Peão there? Do people know who sings? At the moment, I'm more concerned with the image. It's a challenge."
Jeninho, MC Peão, with his father, Jenner Melo
Reproduction/Instagram

Source: G1