Perrengue is a very Brazilian Portuguese slang term that describes a difficult, uncomfortable, or embarrassing situation, often one involving financial or emotional struggle. It's a word that perfectly captures the feeling of being in a bind or having a tough time.
In this song, the singer uses it to describe the emotional suffering his heart went through after a breakup, implying that his ex-partner will experience a similar
Perrengue is a breakup song about being the one who kept trying.
The singer says it was not just once that he went looking for a way back. He kept pressing the same point, wanting peace while she wanted a fight, and his name sat in her phone under "answer later." So he ended it. He admits he felt awful and that he is sad, but he also knows the simple rule of it: when one person does not want it, there is no couple left.
The rest of the song is what he expects to happen next. He will miss her, and he will drink while he remembers. But she is going to go through the same rough patch, the same perrengue, that his heart already went through, and it will hit her the day she realises she lost him. Everything that leaves comes back, he says, except him.
Underneath the hurt there is a lot of swagger. The band drops into a bachata groove halfway through, the crowd lifts their hands, and a sad story turns into something you can dance to.
Gusttavo Lima is one of Brazil's biggest sertanejo stars. Born Nivaldo Batista Lima in 1989 in Presidente Olegário, in the state of Minas Gerais, he started performing as a child alongside his brothers before going solo.
His 2011 single "Balada" turned him into a household name across Brazil and carried his music well beyond, charting in countries including the Netherlands, Spain, and France. Since then he has built one of the most successful careers in modern sertanejo, filling stadiums with a run of romantic, often bittersweet hits delivered in the direct, conversational style his fans love.