Bernardo Correia Ribeiro de Carvalho Costa, better known as Agir, is a Portuguese singer, record producer and musician born in Lisbon on March 18, 1988. He is one of the most successful Portuguese pop artists of the 2010s.
Bernardo Costa was born in Lisbon, the son of singer Paulo de Carvalho and actress Helena Isabel. He started his musical career at the age of 5, singing fado, composing and producing his own songs, which he made available for free on the internet. He then spent two years touring with his father. “Since I was very young I was obliged to listen to music, because of my father. I really like to sing and play and, at the age of 12, I started recording my own music”, said Bernardo. By this time he had already adopted the stage name “Agir”. “People usually tell me to think twice before acting, and I prefer to act twice before thinking”, explains himself, justifying the choice of his artistic name.
As a teenager, he began to form his repertoire, largely influenced by Dancehall, but also with traces of hip-hop, reggae, soul, and R&B. His music gained an immense number of fans through its dissemination on social networks, with emphasis on Youtube (curiously, the vast majority of the more than 200 songs from Agir that appear on Youtube were not posted there by the singer, but by fans). Agir’s first big hit, particularly among teenagers, was “Wella”.
With the fado singer Milene Candeias, he was part of the TribUrbana project, which participated in the 2007 Festival RTP da Canção, with the theme “Dá-me a Lua”. The theme finished in 4th place, with 3046 votes.
Agir was involved in a virtual musical group, the 3D (consisting of the characters Dani, Dudas and Didi), a project aimed at children and pre-teens. One of the group’s songs, “A Nossa Veneza Vai Virar”, taken from the album Vai na Tua Onda, is part of the soundtrack of one of the seasons of the series Morangos com Açúcar.
Meanwhile, Agir composed for names like Mariza, Rita Guerra, his sister Mafalda Sacchetti and for his father, for whom he composed the song “Meu Mundo Inteiro” (initially recorded by Agir himself under the name “Balada”). The song was edited in 2008 on the album “Do Amor”, by Paulo de Carvalho. Later, Agir’s father returned to record in a duet with Mariza.
On July 29, 2010, Vidisco released his debut album, simply titled Agir. Meanwhile, he was the author of the soundtrack for the play “As Encalhadas”, starring his mother, Maria João Abreu and Rita Salema and which premiered in October 2010.
Performs live at Festival Sudoeste. In 2013, he presents the theme “Alma Gémea”, which is followed by the EP Alma Gémea – The Soul Sessions Experience, in the same year, and the “mixtape” – which, in fact, is an EP – #AGIRISCOMING (both bodies were made available as a free download), in 2014. It is with these two bodies of work that Agir makes its transition to a MORE soul, R&B and pop sound – leaving dancehall behind -, managing to truly penetrate the scene mainstream.
The second album, Leva-me a Sério, was released in 2015 and became a great success, reaching No. nº 1 59 weeks after it was released), ending up being awarded the platinum award (15,000 copies sold). It includes themes such as “Are You Ready?”, “Time Is Money” and “How Beautiful She Is”. Interestingly, the 1st edition of “Leva-me a Serio”, released in March of that year, does not include what is probably Agir’s biggest hit: “Parte-me o Pescoço”. The hit is, however, already present in the 2nd edition of the album, released in December 2015.
Agir was the artistic director of the show “Intemporal”, commemorating the 54th anniversary of Paulo de Carvalho’s career, which took place at the Tivoli on April 12, 2016. Also in 2016, Agir performs concerts at the Coliseu do Porto and Coliseu dos Recreios, which featured special guests such as Blaya, C4 Pedro and Filipe Gonçalves, among others.
In 2017 he was part of the judging panel of the talent show Just Duet, from SIC, along with his father, Héber Marques and Gisela João. Also that year, he participated vocally in a new version of “O Meu Mundo Inteiro”, together with his father. The track was included on the album “Duetos”, by Paulo de Carvalho, released in 2017 and which was entirely conceived by Agir.
“Manto de Água”, a theme released in the 1st quarter of 2017 and which features the collaboration of Ana Moura, is the presentation theme of Agir’s third album, No Fame. The singles “Pensa em Nós” (2017), “Minha Flor” (2017) and “Até ao Fim” (2018) followed, the latter being a collaboration with Diogo Piçarra. In April 2018, he released two singles with a more hip hop component, “Falas Demais” and “Vai Madonna!!!”. The album No Fame was released on May 4, 2018 and includes the singles “Manto de Água”, “Minha Flor”, “Até ao Fim”, “Falas Demais” and “Vai Madonna!!!”. No Fame ended up achieving little commercial success compared to Agir’s previous album.
In the fall of 2018, and following a performance on Mega Hits FM radio in which he sang the hit “Coração Não Tem Idade (Vou Beijar)”, by the Portuguese singer Toy, Agir ended up releasing the cover as a single.
In 2021, Agir carried out the Eulália project, which honors iconic Portuguese artists, starting what can be considered a more mature phase of his career.
In 2022, he released the album Cantar Carneiros, which reveals a profound contrast to his previous albums, with a more “acoustic” sound and more intimate lyrics. The album includes “Prescribing” (2021), a song inspired by popular disappointment regarding the course of Operation Marquês.
In addition to his work as a vocalist and composer, Agir is also a prolific producer, having had, for example, a great influence on the career of Carolina Deslandes.
