Menino Carioca ("Rio boy") is Nana's playful yet bittersweet love letter to an irresistibly charming local. The song follows a narrator who melts the moment she hears his voice, stumbling over her words and even forgetting to breathe. Although he is "lost in Botafogo" and carries the starry nickname of an astronaut, he has never reached the moon, symbolizing youthful dreams that have not yet taken flight. Nana turns this simple crush into a cinematic scene: Rio's sunlit streets, a heart that heals slowly, and a girl who blushes so much that all she can do is hum.
Beneath the breezy bossa nova vibe lies a quiet melancholy. The singer warns herself that "Rio is very sad for those who love," suggesting that the city’s beauty can sharpen the pain of longing. Each whispered “uhm” and “ahh” captures the gulf between what she feels and what she can say. Still, every time the menino appears, her pulse races again, and the stutter returns. In just a few verses, Nana paints the universal tension between attraction and self-protection, wrapping it in the warm sway of Brazilian rhythm and the wistful sighs of a heart not quite ready to give up.