Larissa de Macedo Machado (born 30 March 1993), known professionally as Anitta (Brazilian Portuguese: [ɐˈnitɐ] ), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, and occasional television host. One of Brazil's most prominent artists, she became known for her versatile style and mixing genres such as pop, funk, reggaeton and electronic music. She has received numerous accolades, including one Brazilian Music Award, four Latin American Music Awards, three MTV Music Video Awards, nine MTV Europe Music Awards, two Guinness World Records, and nominations for two Grammy Award and ten Latin Grammy Awards, in addition to being the Brazilian female singer with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100. She has been referred to as the "Queen of Brazilian Pop".
Shortly after the release of her debut single, "Meiga e Abusada" (2012), Anitta signed a recording contract with Warner Music Brazil and released her self-titled debut album in 2013, which entered at number one and was certified platinum in Brazil. It produced the hit singles "Show das Poderosas" and "Zen", her first number-one on the Billboard Brasil Hot 100 and Latin Grammy nomination. In 2014, she released her second studio album Ritmo Perfeito alongside the live album Meu Lugar to further commercial success. Her third studio album, Bang (2015), spawned the top-ten singles "Deixa Ele Sofrer" and "Bang" and cemented Anitta's standing as a major star on the Brazilian record charts. In 2017, Anitta released her first song fully in Spanish, "Paradinha", which accelerated her crossover to Spanish-language Latin and reggaeton genres, and released a project entitled CheckMate, featuring several international collaborations and hits such as "Downtown" and "Vai Malandra". Her trilingual fourth studio-visual album, Kisses (2019), earned a nomination for the Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album.
Anitta's diamond-certified fifth studio album, Versions of Me (2022), contained the lead single "Envolver", which topped the Billboard Brazil Songs chart and became her breakthrough hit internationally. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and number two on the Billboard Global 200, making Anitta the first Brazilian artist to lead a global music chart. It also garnered her a Guinness World Record for being the first solo Latin artist and the first Brazilian act to reach number one on Spotify's Global Top 200 chart. She became the first Brazilian artist to win the American Music Award for Favorite Latin Artist and the MTV Video Music Award for Best Latin for "Envolver"; she won the latter award two more consecutive times for "Funk Rave" and "Mil Veces" from her sixth studio album, Funk Generation (2024), which earned her first Brazilian Music Awards win for Release in a Foreign Language. She also earned her second Grammy (2025) nomination for Best Latin Pop Album; previously, Anitta had been nominated for Best New Artist at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards and featured on Forbes's 2023 30 Under 30.
Anitta has been described by the media as a sex symbol and is considered as one of the most influential artists in the world on social media, featuring on the Time 100 Next list. She is also known for her philanthropic work. The causes she promotes include climate change, conservation, the environment, health, and right to food; she also dedicates herself to advocating for LGBT, indigenous and women's rights.
Larissa de Macedo Machado was born and raised in Honório Gurgel, a Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood with one of the lowest HDIs. She is the youngest daughter of Míriam Macedo and Mauro Machado of Syrian and Afro-Brazilian descent. Her parents later divorced, with her mother obtaining custody. Her brother, Renan Machado, is one of her music producers and jointly manages her career.
She began her singing when she was 8, joining the choir of Saint Luzia's Parish in her neighbourhood at her maternal grandparents’ insistence. She took her first English classes at 11, having demonstrated above-average intelligence and an interest in an academic career. Her mother's teacher later gave her free dance lessons.
After graduating from Colégio Pedro II, she finished a technical course in public administration in high school. In 2013, she decided to pursue her artistic career and won the "Best New Artist" award given by the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte, an organisation based in São Paulo, Brazil, that honours the best in the Brazilian arts.
Anitta's stage name was inspired by the character "Anita" in the book Presença de Anita, adapted as a teleseries by TV Globo in 2001. She thought the character was "amazing" because "[Anita] could be sexy without looking vulgar; girl and woman at the same time".
Anitta speaks several languages: Portuguese (her native language), English and Spanish, as well as some Italian and French. Furthermore, she has taken Japanese classes and plans to learn Korean.
2011–2013: Debut album and initial success
Anitta's career as a professional singer started in 2011, when she was introduced to the funk carioca producer Renato Azevedo, known as Batutinha. She was invited to record some demo tapes for him, as he had seen some of her home videos on YouTube. She then signed a contract with independent label Furacão 2000, which was specialized on releasing Brazilian funk music. She then released her debut single "Eu Vou Ficar", which was played on local radio stations in Rio de Janeiro and the song was included in the compilation album Armagedom, which included other artists from the musical scene. With advice by her producer, she decided to put another "t" in her stage name, which was inspired by Brazilian television series Presença de Anita. A year later, the song "Fica Só Olhando" was included on the Armagedom II release. Her first televised appearance was on 16 May 2012, on TV program Cante se Puder, on SBT, where she performed inside a glass of beer. In June 2012, she chose to not renew the Furacão 2000 contract and signed with K2L Entertainment.
In January 2013, Anitta signed a recording contract with Warner Music Brasil and released the single "Meiga e Abusada". The song was then added to the telenovela Amor à Vida's soundtrack and became one of the most requested songs in Brazilian radio stations in early 2013. A music video for the song was shot in Las Vegas, and directed by American director Blake Farber. The song was chosen as lead single of her self-titled debut album was released in June 2013.
In June 2013, the music video for "Show das Poderosas" became the most watched music video on YouTube in Brazil, surpassing 160 million views in less than a week after the release. The impact also helped the song to make it onto charts, which remained for many weeks at the top of the best selling music in iTunes Brazil, and making it the third most played song on the radio in the country during 2013. At the time, with that, the singer's fee per presentation increased to US$10.000.
2014–2015: Meu Lugar and Ritmo Perfeito
Anitta announced in 2013 that she would start her first concert tour on that year. The sales to the tickets for the special series of shows, went on sale in November 2013. The event took place in Rio de Janeiro at HSBC Arena on 15 February 2014, and was attended by about 10,000 people. The album was previously titled Fantástico Mundo de Anitta (Anitta's World), but was later renamed to Meu Lugar (My Place), after the release of the song "Quem Sabe" on iTunes. The song "Blá Blá Blá" was released as the lead single from the album on 23 March 2014. Despite the success in minor proportions, the song reached the number two on the Hot 100 Airplay chart in Brazil. The album was released on 4 June 2014, just a day after the release of her second studio album, Ritmo Perfeito.
The second single from the project was a song featuring rapper Projota titled "Cobertor", which reached a number 43 on Brazilian charts. The following single "Na Batida" was released on 31 July 2014. Its music video reached 1 million views on YouTube after just 24 hours. The single had a minor success on charts, peaking at number four on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. Other singles released from the album were "Ritmo Perfeito" and "No Meu Talento", featuring MC Guimê. In April 2014, she made her acting debut as Helena Boccato in comedy film Copa de Elite. In August 2014, she founded her own management company, Rodamoinho Produções Artísticas. In December, she also starred as goddess Solaris in television film Didi e o Segredo dos Anjos.