Anitta

**Larissa de Macedo Machado** (born 30 March 1993, Rio de Janeiro), known professionally as **Anitta**, is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, dancer, occasional television host, and actress. Anitta was named by the *Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte* (APCA) as "revelation of the year in music" for 2013. She has received numerous accolades, including four Latin American Music Awards along with nominations for eight Latin Grammy Awards. She has won eight MTV Europe Music Awards, and became the first Brazilian artist to win the award for Best Latin American Act.

Upon the release of her debut single "Meiga e Abusada" (2012), Anitta signed a recording contract with Warner Music Brazil in January 2013. In July 2013, she released her self-titled debut album, which produced four hit singles on Brazilian record charts and was certified platinum. Her second studio album, *Ritmo Perfeito* (2014), achieved commercial success in Lusophone countries, and was accompanied by the release of her first live album, *Meu Lugar*, on the same day. In 2015, Anitta released her third studio album, Bang, which was certified platinum and spawned four successful singles: "Deixa Ele Sofrer"; the title track "Bang"; "Essa Mina é Louca"; and "Cravo e Canela". The album played a crucial role in propelling Anitta as a major force within the Brazilian and Portuguese record charts. In 2017, Anitta released her first full song in Spanish, although titled in Portuguese, "Paradinha", which accelerated her crossover to Spanish-language Latin and reggaetón genres. Later, she received critical acclaim for her trilingual fourth studio-visual album, Kisses (2019), which earned her a nomination for the Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album. Her fifth studio album, Versions of Me (2022), was preceded by its lead single, "Envolver", which topped Spotify's Global Top 50 chart, making Anitta the first solo Brazilian and the first solo Latin American artist to do so. "Envolver" went on to peak at number one on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and number two on Billboard Global, making Anitta the first Brazilian artist to lead a global music chart. In 2022, Anitta became the first Brazilian artist to win a MTV Video Music Awards category, as well as an American Music Award. Anitta received her first major Grammy nomination, for Best New Artist, at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

## Early life

Anitta was born and raised in Honório Gurgel neighborhood, a region with one of the lowest HDIs in the Rio de Janeiro city, the youngest daughter of Míriam Macedo and Mauro Machado; her brother Renan Machado currently acts as one of her music producers and jointly manages her career. Larissa had a poor childhood and was raised by divorced parents, with her mother gaining custody.

She began her singing career at the age of 8, when, after the insistence of her maternal grandparents, she started singing in the choir of the Santa Luzia's Parish, located in her neighborhood. At age 11, she took her first English classes and was already showing signs of pursuing an academic career and demonstrated above-average intelligence. She later received free dance lessons provided by her mother's teacher. When she was in high school, she finished a technical course in public administration after graduating from one of the most prestigious public schools in the country, the Dom Pedro II School. A year later, she decided to pursue an artistic career. The same year, she was the winner of the "Best New Artist" award given by the *Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte*, as the main body of culture in Brazil.

Anitta's stage name was inspired by the character Anita, from the book *Presença de Anita* adapted as a teleseries by TV Globo in 2001. She thought the character "amazing" because "[she] could be sexy without looking vulgar; girl and woman at the same time".

Anitta is a polyglot. In addition to her native language, Portuguese, she speaks English and Spanish fluently. She also has an advanced level of Italian and an intermediate level of French. Furthermore, she has taken Japanese classes and plans to learn Korean.

## Career

### 2010-2013: Debut album and initial success

In 2010, Anitta was invited by the then producer of the independent record label Furacão 2000, Renato Azevedo (known as "Batutinha"), to do some tests after he saw one of her videos on YouTube. After being approved, she signed with Furacão 2000. In an interview, the producer said he was impressed by her voice and her performance on stage in the stiletto style, which consists of dancing in high heels. Advised by her producer Batutinha, she decided to add another "t" to her name. At the end of that year, the singer released her first song on the radio in Rio de Janeiro, the promotional single "Eu Vou Ficar", which ended up on the Armagedon DVD released by Furacão. A year later, the song "Fica Só Olhando" was featured on the second version of the DVD.

Her first appearance on a TV show was on *Domingão do Faustão*, on the Brazilian channel TV Globo, in a program that was only shown online. However, her first real television appearance was on May 16, 2012 on SBT's *Cante se Puder*, where she sang Claudia Leitte's song "Exttravasa" Inside a beer cup. In June 2012, businesswoman Kamilla Fialho, seeing Anitta perform on stage, decided to become her manager, paying a fine of R$226.000 that the record company demanded in order to release the singer. Without a record company, Kamilla paid R$40.000 to record the music video for "Meiga e Abusada".

In January 2013, the success of "Meiga e Abusada" in Rio de Janeiro, which made it into the top ten songs requested on Brazilian radio stations, earned her a contract with the Warner Music label.  In May of the same year, the song was included in the soundtrack of TV Globo's telenovela *Amor à Vida*. The music video for the song was shot in Las Vegas, USA, and directed by American Blake Farber. Two EPs were released that year. At the beginning of 2013, the singer popularized the "quadradinho" choreography in funk groups. The music video for song "Show das Poderosas" had a huge impact on the media in May, becoming the most viewed video on YouTube Brazil and surpassing 10 million views that month. It also contributed to the song remaining at the top of the best-selling charts on the iTunes Brazil digital store for weeks, as well as becoming the third most played song on the country's radio stations in 2013. Her self-titled debut album was released on June 6. Even though she had a contract with Warner Music, her former label released the EP with the same name in August, with four tracks also on the singer's debut album. At the time, the singer's fee was estimated at R$60,000 per performance.

## Discography

### *Studio albums*

* Anitta *(2013)*
* Ritmo Perfeito *(2014)*
* Bang! *(2015)*
* Kisses *(2019)*
* Versions of Me *(2022)*

### *Extended plays*

* Anitta *(2012)*
* Solo *(2018)*
* À Procura da Anitta Perfeita *(2022)*
* Funk Generation: A Favela Love Story *(2023)*

## References

1. ↑ Anitta festeja disco de ouro e DVD de platina: 'Realização de um sonho'
2. ↑ First solo Latin artist to reach No.1 on Spotify
3. ↑ Anitta’s ‘Envolver’ Hits No. 1 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Chart
4. ↑ Anitta’s Fiery VMAs Wardrobe Was an Ode to Brazil
5. ↑ Meet The Best New Artist GRAMMY Nominees At The 2023 GRAMMYs
6. ↑ Com casa cheia, Anitta lança o DVD 'Meu lugar' em show no Rio
7. ↑ Mães lindas de Anitta e Arthur Aguiar roubam a cena; veja quem está no 'Tamanho Família' de 24/7
8. ↑ Cantora Anitta é eleita a revelação do ano na música pela APCA
9. ↑ Anitta: O primeiro beijo, a emoção com o telefonema de Ivete e outras histórias contadas no bairro onde ela cresceu
10. ↑ Mel Lisboa prefere não falar sobre a inspiração de Anitta em sua personagem para criar nome artístico
11. ↑ 4 segredos de Anitta para aprender idiomas
12. ↑ Com músicas em 5 línguas, Anitta usou aplicativos para aprender italiano
13. ↑ Fluente em inglês e espanhol e com francês e italiano intermediários: como Anitta se vira em tantos idiomas?
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Anitta, a preparada da vez
15. ↑ MC Anitta, a revelação feminina do funk carioca
16. ↑ Armagedon (Ao Vivo) on Spotify
17. ↑ Armagedon II, Vol. 1 (Ao Vivo) on Spotify
18. ↑ Dias, Leo (2019). Furacão Anitta. [S.l.]: Ediouro Publicações. ISBN 978-8-5220-0615-1
19. ↑ Fast food vira tema de provas do “Cante se Puder”
20. ↑ MC Anitta vai a Barra da Tijuca para assinar com gravadora
21. ↑ Trilha sonora: releituras de sucessos da MPB embalam as cenas de Amor à Vida
22. ↑ Prestes a lançar disco de estreia, musa do funk revela que “odiava” música que virou hit
23. ↑ 'Eu inventei o convencional', diz Anitta do 'quadradinho de oito'
24. ↑ Anitta comemora os 10 milhões de visualizações de ‘Show das poderosas’
25. ↑ Anitta é eleita artista do ano pelo iTunes Brasil; hit foi o mais vendido
26. ↑ Anitta e o mercado publicitário