Childhood & Early Life
Anitta was born on March 30, 1993, in Rio de Janeiro, to Mauro Machado and Miriam Macedo. She is younger of the two children with elder brother Renan Machado, who is her artistic producer. She is of African- Brazilian-European mix descent. Anitta grew up in the impoverished neighborhood of Honório Gurgel in Rio de Janeiro and her mother raised the two children as single parent.
At the age of 8, she began singing in the ‘Santa Luzia Church Choir.’ She took lessons in English as well as dancing when she was 11. Anitta joined a technical school and completed an administration course by the age of 16. The next year she was named as ‘Revelation of the Year in Music’ by APCA (Associação Paulista de Criticos de Arte) [In the Source reference, there is discrepancy over the year] and turned towards a career in music.
Continue Reading Below
Career
In 2011, one of her singing video was liked by ‘Funk Carioca’ producer DJ Batutinha and asked her to take some tests. She was signed to the record label ‘Furacão 2000,’ and released her first single ‘Eu Vou Ficar’ on radio in 2011.
In 2012, her ‘Quadradinho’ choreography became popular with the Funk groups. Producer Kamila Fialho saw her stage show in June 2012 and paid (256,000 reals) to release her from her ‘Furacão 2000’ contract. Anitta signed with Kamila’s company ‘K2L’ and appointed Kamila as her manager.
Her song ‘Meiga e Abusada’ was first released on July 6, 2012 on radio by ‘Furacâo 2000.’ It became a hit and one of the most requested songs on the Brazilian radio. This success led to her signing a recording contract with ‘Warner Music Group.’ The same song was then re-released by ‘Warner Group’ on digital download in February 2013. The music album of this song was recorded in Las Vegas.
Her self-titled debut album, ‘Anitta,’ was released in June 2013 and the hit song ‘Meiga e Abusada’ was included in it. The album sold over 40,000 copies within 10 days of its release and it received triple gold and platinum certificate by ABPD. Before the release of this album, she had brought out 4 singles, which included her most popular number, ‘Show das Poderosas.’ It became the biggest hit of 2013 in Brazil and with over 130 million views, its music video was the most watched YouTube video in Brazil. It was the third most played song on the Brazil radio stations. Anitta became the highest paid show singer during that period.
She released her first live album ‘Meu Lugar’ and her second studio album, ‘Ritmo Perfeito,’ by ‘Warner Music Group,’ around same time in June 2014. The live album ‘Meu Lugar’ included the lead single ‘Blá Blá Blá’ which was released on March 23, 2014 and another song, ‘Quem Sabe’ which was released on iTune. The studio album ‘Ritmo Perfeito’ featured the single ‘Na Batida’ which reached number 4 on ‘Hot 100 Airplay’ and its video recorded 1 million views in the first 24 hours. Apart from the title track ‘Ritmo Perfeito,’ the other single from the album, ‘No Meu Talento’ featured MC Guimê.
Anitta made her film debut in 2014, and appeared in 2 movies, a comedy film, ‘Copa de Elite’ and a TV film, ‘Didi e o Segredo dos Anjos.’ She launched her own management company, ‘Rodamoinho Produçõs Artisticas.’ In November 2014, she became the youngest Brazilian singer to perform at the ‘Latin Grammy Awards.’
In October 2015, she came out with her 3rd studio album ‘Bang,’ which featured 14 new songs. It entered the Brazilian albums charts at number 3 and with sales crossing over 300,000 copies, received platinum certification by ABPD. The singles ‘Deixa Ele Sofrer’ (released on July 16, 2015) and the title track, ‘Bang’ (released on October 9, 2015) made to the top of the ‘iTunes Brazil Chart’ and also on ‘Spotify Brazil.’ The music video of ‘Bang’ registered 320 million views on the ‘YouTube.’
Anitta hosted the third season of the TV multi-show program, ‘Música Boa Ao Vivo’ in 2016. Over the years, she also appeared on various TV shows including, ‘Amor á Vida,’ ‘Vai Que Cola,’ ‘TVZ,’ ‘Adnight Show,’ ‘Vai Anitta,’ among others. She was a part of the remix of ‘Ginza’ by singer J. Balvin. Her single ‘Sim Ou Não,’ with Columbian singer Maluma was brought out in August 2016.
On August 5, 2016, Anitta (with singers Caetano Velosa and Gilberto Gil) performed at the opening ceremony of ‘2016 Summer Olympics’ at ‘Maracanã Stadium,’ Rio de Janeiro.
Continue Reading Below
In 2017, Anitta featured on the singles by such artists as ‘Simone & Simaria,’ Nego do Borel. Her first English single, ‘Switch,’ (May 2017), was produced in collaboration with Australian rapper, Iggy Azalea. On May 31, 2017, she released the single, ‘Paradinha,’ a bilingual in Portuguese and Spanish. This was first single from her forthcoming 4th album. She, along with singer Pabllo Vittar, featured in ‘Sua Cara,’ by American group ‘Major Lazer.’ The song and its video fetched considerable popularity.
Anitta initiated a project, ‘CheckMate,’ through which she released a new song every month; this included ‘Will I See U,’ ‘Is That For Me,’ ‘Downtown,’ with the last one entering ‘Top 50 Global,’ making her first Brazilian singer to feature in that position.
