Anitta made history after becoming the first Brazilian artist to win in the “Best Latin” category at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. And now, she continues to leave her mark after appearing for the first time on the cover of Vogue México y Latinoamérica.
The Latina superstar opened up to the magazine about the music of her native country and why she is among the selected group of Brazilian stars that had success singing in several languages.
“Brazilian music has not left Brazil for a long time; most of the time that Brazilian artists tried to make a career outside the country, they stopped singing in Portuguese to sing in another language. I like challenges and singing in several different languages. It’s a huge one,” she told the outlet.
And indeed, Anitta is up for the challenge. The star’s fifth album is a reflection of how multifaceted she is. Named Versions of Me to reflect her different personalities, the album is one of the few projects in the world that include songs in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
“I decided to name it Versions of Me because it is an album that has very different songs, as well as my personality,” she told Vogue. “I love waking up and being different in my way of being and deciding always to live the day differently. Each song represents a different personality and characteristic that I have in me.”
“We started working on some of the songs before the pandemic, but then we had to change our plans because of everything that was going on,” she said. “But it happened very naturally; we were super open to doing everything that came to mind while I was in the studio, and whenever we were there, something would happen that would tell me what I wanted to sing at that moment.”
Anitta is a rulebreaker, so she doesn’t stress when she has to change plans. Now she continues with the same methodology for everything career-related, and even if she never saw it coming, she made it happen. “I lived in Brazil, and I did not imagine I would be traveling to so many countries, making my career as it is today,” she said.
“Now, my music has so many songs in other languages and rhythms; I was in a place where I didn’t imagine how much could happen. I started singing in Spanish, English, Italian, French, and now everything is new, nice, and incredible,” she added.
“Many of the people I’ve sung with in my career are people I’ve listened to since I was a little girl and grew up with, like Madonna or the Black Eyed Peas. They are people I listened to; I thought they were amazing and loved them. It’s like an assessment of my name, career, and everything I’m doing. I feel very honored. I feel recognized, that’s the word,” she noted.
Anitta’s cover and MTV VMA’s winning come after an electrifying performance of “Envolver,” the same song that garnered her historic nomination. Versions of Me features the 15 original tracks and five new tracks with a star-studded line-up of collaborators including Missy Elliott, Maluma, A$AP Ferg, Nicky Jam, HARV, L7NNON, Maffio, MC Pedrinho, Pedro Sampaio and Dadju.