Anitta’s singing career began at age 8
Born Larissa de Macedo Machado in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Honório Gurgel, Anitta started singing as an 8-year-old member of her parish church. By age 11, she was also studying English and dance, but then her studies took a more vocational bent, as she graduated with a public administration certificate. But by 2013, when she was just 20, the turned back to the arts, winning a career-boosting “Best New Artist” award from the São Paulo Association of Critics.
Anitta’s name didn’t always have two “ts”
Anitta chose her stage name after watching 2001 TV series Presença de Anita, about a seductive teen (the titular Anita) at the center of a deadly love triangle. Anita “could be sexy without looking vulgar; girl and woman at the same time,” Anitta said of the character.
After beginning her career as “Anita,” she changed her moniker to “Anitta” soon after she was discovered on YouTube by record producer Renato Azevedo. That two-t name was firmly in place by 2013, when her single, “Meiga e Abusada,” became one of the most requested songs for radio stations across Brazil. That same year, the video for her song ”Show das Poderosas” became YouTube’s most watched music video in the entire country of Brazil.
You probably saw Anitta at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Anitta continued to crank out hits between 2013 and 2016, and also acted onscreen in projects including Didi e o Segredo dos Anjos. In 2016 she took a gig hosting the third season of cable variety show Música Boa Ao Vivo, but another job that year catapulted her onto the global stage: Alongside fellow Brazilian artists Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, she performed at the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics, which were held in Rio. Hollywood talent agencies came calling shortly thereafter, and by the end of the year she’d claimed the Best Brazilian Act award at the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards.
Anitta’s been singing in English for almost a decade
Her first English single, 2017’s “Switch”, was a collaboration with Australian rapper Iggy Azalea (of “Fancy” fame). That same year, Major Lazer dropped a revamped version of her single, “Sua Cara,” on their fourth EP. It was an international smash, and the first Portuguese-language song to chart on Billboard‘s Dance/Electronic list. By 2020, she’d been signed by Warner Records’ US label; later that year, she released Cardi B collab “Me Gusta,” which topped the charts in the US and 87 other countries.
