Anitta

Larissa de Macedo Machado, known professionally as Anitta, was born on March 30, 1993, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She chose her stage name after watching the miniseries “Presença de Anita,” whose title character impressed her with a combination of sensuality and independence. Anitta began performing publicly while still a teenager, posting videos online and singing in Rio’s carioca funk scene. Her early work with the production company Furacão 2000 helped connect her to Brazilian funk audiences before she signed with Warner Music Brazil.

Her breakthrough came in 2013 with “Show das Poderosas,” a sharply choreographed single whose confident video established her as a major Brazilian pop figure. Her self-titled debut album, “Anitta,” followed that year and produced additional hits, including “Zen” and “Não Para.” She expanded her profile through collaborations and multilingual releases, deliberately moving between Portuguese, Spanish, and English rather than limiting herself to one national market.

Anitta’s international visibility grew through songs such as “Sua Cara,” a 2017 collaboration with Major Lazer and Pabllo Vittar, and “Downtown,” recorded with Colombian singer J Balvin. Her 2019 album “Kisses” presented the singer through separate visual and musical personas, with tracks in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. She later joined Cardi B and Myke Towers on “Me Gusta,” released in 2020, and issued “Girl from Rio” in 2021. The song reworked the melodic idea of Antônio Carlos Jobim’s “The Girl from Ipanema” into a personal account of her Brazilian identity and family background.

In March 2022, “Envolver” reached number one on Spotify’s Global Top 50, making Anitta the first Brazilian solo artist to top that chart. The song’s dance challenge helped drive its worldwide rise, while its success confirmed her influence beyond Brazil. At the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, she became the first solo Brazilian artist to win a VMA, receiving Best Latin for “Envolver.” She also received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist at the 2023 ceremony.

Anitta’s album “Funk Generation,” released in 2024, centered Brazilian funk and its Rio de Janeiro origins, presenting the genre as a sophisticated international language rather than merely a club soundtrack. Its release continued her effort to bring funk’s rhythms, slang, and social context to global pop audiences. Across her career, Anitta has combined calculated visual presentation with collaborations that cross linguistic and geographic boundaries, while maintaining Brazilian funk as a central part of her artistic identity.