Anitta
March 30, 1993 — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Anitta is a Brazilian pop star who rose from a working-class neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro to become one of Latin music’s most successful global exports and the first Brazilian artist to top the Spotify Global chart.
From the Favela to the Stage
Larissa de Macedo Machado was born on March 30, 1993, in Honório Gurgel, a working-class neighborhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Raised in modest circumstances by her mother, she began performing in her local evangelical church and at school events. From an early age she was single-minded about a career in entertainment.
As a teenager she sent videos of herself performing to music executives and managed to arrange an audition with the Rio label Furacão 2000. She adapted the stage name Anitta from a character in the Brazilian telenovela Presença de Anita and recorded her first single, "Eu Fui," in 2011. It made little impact. She persisted, developed her dancing, and kept building a following through live appearances in Rio's baile funk circuit.
Breakthrough and Brazilian Domination
Her career transformed in 2013 with "Show das Poderosas" — a commanding up-tempo funk pop track whose music video became a viral hit. The song's assertive energy and Anitta's stage presence made her a phenomenon almost overnight. She signed with Warner Music Brazil and released a string of successful albums through the mid-2010s, establishing herself as Brazil's most commercially dominant female artist.
Anitta was among the first Brazilian pop artists to seriously pursue a crossover into the Spanish-language Latin market, releasing bilingual and Spanish-only tracks alongside her Portuguese material. This strategy paid off hugely — particularly with her collaboration on "Loco," hits with J Balvin, and her own Spanish-language EP series, which expanded her audience across Latin America and into the United States.
Did You Know?
In 2022, Anitta became the first Brazilian solo artist in history to reach number one on the Spotify Global chart when "Envolver" topped the global rankings — a milestone that also made her the first Latin female artist to do so with a solo track.
Global Star and Business Mogul
By the early 2020s Anitta had assembled one of the most strategically managed careers in contemporary pop. Beyond performing and recording, she has built a significant business empire: a production company, fashion collaborations, beauty ventures, and tech investments. She was profiled extensively in the international business press for the precision with which she managed her own brand expansion.
Her 2022 album Versions of Me — recorded in Portuguese, Spanish, and English — was a deliberate statement of multi-market ambition. She performed at Coachella, appeared on the covers of major international fashion magazines, and signed deals that reflected her status as the most globally recognized Brazilian pop star since Carmen Miranda. She continues to push into new markets while maintaining her base in Brazil with regular music, touring, and media appearances.