Anitta’s grand strategy: from Brazilian star to global icon

“After the turn of the year, 00:15, it will be meee at Piscinão de Ramos! Let’s goooo,” so Anitta announced that she would perform at a popular artificial beach in the low-income suburbs of Rio de Janeiro at the end of 2012. 

This was in keeping with her shows at steakhouses and small clubs in the area. She had just begun her career in funk as “MC Larissa,” and many still called her by her given name, Larissa.

Cut to March 2022 and Anitta is the first Brazilian artist to ever appear in Spotify’s Global Top 10, one of the most important metrics in music today. She spent two days at number one with her song “Envolver,” and remains in second place, ahead of artists like Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons, and Dua Lipa.

The song, released in November 2021, initially went viral on TikTok, before climbing up the charts. As with many such videos, it is framed as a “challenge” in which users try to follow along with the choreography – in this case, dropping to the floor in a plank position and shaking their butts in the air. 

The idea came from Anitta herself, commissioning choreography from Aliya Brinson, a dancer who has worked with Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown, and who also directed the clip. 

“It wasn’t luck, it was a lot of effort,” claimed the artist when asked about the song’s success – now the biggest hit in her international career, which began in earnest in 2017. That year, Anitta released an EP, “CheckMate,” with songs in English and Spanish. 

But the record’s biggest bit was actually in Portuguese: “Vai Malandra,” hitting 18th in the Spotify charts. The accompanying music video was notable for portraying scenes from the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro...