BEHIND THE MEME: The Origin of Maloqueira's Pose
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Matheus Vieira is a 20-year-old illustrator and designer who lives in São Paulo (SP) and works at a communication agency. Maybe you don't know him, but you probably know one of his creations: the figurine of maloqueira pose, which went viral on all social networks and gained WhatsApp groups.
He created the sticker (and several others) two months ago. Since then, the sticker has been booming and has been used (or quoted) by famous personalities, such as the comedian Whindersson Nunes and even the actress Sarah Paulson, who plays Nurse Ratched in the series of the same name, one of the Netflix's September Premieres. See below the iconic moment in which the actress imitates such a pose:
The video of the designer illustrating the figurine reached almost 1,5 million of views on Twitter. In total, the tweet with the video had about four million impressions (likes, comments, retweets, etc). Watch below:
But how did themaloqueira pose“? How is it dealing with such a big hit? Will there be more figurines of this type in the near future? The young illustrator answers all of this below and shows you the world behind this iconic meme.
Origin of the Maloqueira Pose
It all started with the pose itself. Vieira said that the “funk girls” had been posing in photos for a while. But she "hit" even after the singer Pabllo Vittar took a photo with a fan doing this pose, during an event in Orlando (USA) held in October 2019. The historic moment was marked on Twitter:
From this moment onwards, themaloqueira pose” went viral and won social media in Brazil (and the world) around the world. Over time, many people started posting photos and videos doing the pose. And that's where Matheus Vieira comes in.
“Pabllo Vittar came before [my figurine]. I was inspired by Pabllo's photo to make the figurine.”
Matheus Vieira, illustrator and designer who created the Pose de Maloqueira figurine
Check out a variation of the figure below:
The figurine phenomenon
Inspired by Pabllo, the illustrator posted the video drawing the figurine on social media. First, Vieira says that the video went viral as a meme. Then, people started asking him to actually create the sticker to use on WhatsApp and other social networks.
Soon after, the designer says that requests came for a “sequel” of the figurine of the maloqueira pose.
“At first, I hadn't planned anything. I had done the drawing to do it myself. And then as a lot of people started asking me to do a 'continuation', I made two more videos in a row, on the same days, and posted [the stickers]”
Matthew Vieira
In addition to reaching people on the internet, Matheus' figurines reached famous people and brands. In Brazil, the comedian Whindersson Nunes posted, on Instagram, a print of a conversation on WhatsApp in which he uses one of the stickers created by the illustrator.
Still in Brazil, Vieira says that the Havaianas contacted him to use his illustration in a tweet. The result was pretty iconic too. See below:
The hit took international proportions when Netflix Brazil used the “Pose de Maloqueira” sticker in a video in which the actress Sarah Paulson read fan tweets. In it, the actress even imitates the pose of the figurine. Watch a snippet of the video below (the full version is on YouTube):
“When I saw that Netflix had used the sticker and she did the pose I thought: 'Damn, look how high this has reached!'. It reached a lot of people. It was a really crazy experience.”
Matthew Vieira
dealing with the hit
Taking national and international proportions, it is clear that the success of the figurines would impact the designer's life.
“I was completely shocked because it was a very unassuming video. I only posted it because it was funny and then I started to see that I was getting likes and people were sharing a lot. I thought, 'Wow…what happened?'.”
Matthew Vieira
The story also arrived at the communication agency BBRO, where the designer works. It was there that a funny story happened.
Matheus says that since before drawing the “maloqueira pose” sticker, he and his co-workers had already taken pictures doing the pose. And his boss didn't understand the meme.
After the sticker went viral, he told his boss... who still didn't understand a thing. After a month, when he was told about the proportions that the designer's figurines had reached, the boss asked why Vieira hadn't told him before. And the illustrator replied that he had said yes, but that he (the boss) had not understood.
Speaking of work, the illustrator jokes that nowadays he wants to include the hit of stickers on his resume.
“When someone asks me what I do for a living, I'll answer that I did the maloqueira pose. That kind of happens sometimes. When I talk to someone, my friends comment: 'he's the one who made the figure of the maloqueira pose'.”
Matthew Vieira
copyright issues
As the stickers went viral, many people and pages took advantage of the hyping to create content on top of it without giving proper credit to the designer.
“A lot of people think that just because it's on the internet, it doesn't have an owner. And that's not the case, because I work with art. I understand that the sticker went viral, but I think that many times people want to gain fame over something that does not belong to them.”
Matthew Vieira
When confronting these people and asking them to include their name as the creator of the sticker maloqueira pose, Vieira says that some responded “with debauchery”. On the other hand, some pages gave due importance to the illustrator's request and included his name in the posts in which they used their stickers.
What to do in this case then? What's the best way to deal with artistic content when you're a content creator and you want to use something (image, illustration, etc) but don't know who made it?
For the designer, the first thing to do is “give a google“. Matheus says that in most cases it is easy to find the authors. The second thing to do for him is to contact the author and ask him to use what he has done.
“Quoting my @ on social media is more than enough for me. You don't even need to be stunned. For example, putting it in the caption of the video for me is already great.”
Matthew Vieira
Matheus Vieira: the sticker artist
The illustrator says that it is passionate about drawing from childhood. He started drawing when he was between 12 and 13 years old – and he hasn't stopped since.
“For a long time I used the graphics tablet on the computer, drawing in Photoshop. Two years ago, I bought an iPad because you can draw right on the screen and it's mobile. It ended up getting a lot easier for me.”
Matthew Vieira
When he entered a design college, Vieira says that illustration ended up becoming part of his career. He currently works as an illustrator. freelancer (self-employed) and participates in exhibitions and art fairs that take place in São Paulo (SP).
His works come to life in a iPad (6th generation), using a Apple Pencil. And the social network he likes to share his illustrations the most is on your instagram page. Check it out below:
Recently, the designer has ventured on Twitch. And you also find Matheus on Twitter and on TikTok (@eitaterry).
About future projects, the designer said that he is currently busy with his TCC. But he also said that he does intend to draw more figurines soon.
“I'm already thinking about the next stickers. Whether they will go viral, I don't know. But I’m already planning!”
Matheus Vieira, illustrator and designer who created the Pose de Maloqueira figurine
The pack with the figures designed by Matheus it's on the Sticker.ly app (available to Android e iPhone). In the app, just search for “eitaterry" or "maloqueira pose” you find the pack. Until the publication of this article, the package had about 100 thousand downloads.
What did you think of the origin of the figurine? maloqueira pose? Tell us here in the comments!
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