The “Girl from Rio” has come a long way — and now she’s coming home to herself.
Brazilian music superstar Anitta, born Larissa de Macedo Machado, has been enthralling audiences for over a decade, transforming herself into a pop heroine of sorts thanks to her kinetic combination of infectious dance hits, high-octane performances and self-empowered sexuality.
The vamp powerhouse onstage who emanates confident joy and the vulnerable woman who questions herself minutes before a performance are two halves of the same coin. But for so long, Anitta felt showing strength was the only path to success.
“People were only looking at me as one side of myself, which was only the side that has courage, that is outspoken,” Anitta tells USA TODAY. “I kind of felt obligated to be like that forever, and that’s not true. I have another side of me that is insecure, is scared of many other things and is a little shy, and I wanted to make sure I was able to be all of this.”
Just like Superman has Clark Kent, Anitta has Larissa. The singer explores this duality in the Netflix documentary “Larissa: The Other Side of Anitta” (streaming now). The film follows Anitta as she examines her life and artistic persona after becoming the “Queen of Brazilian Pop.”
Why Anitta’s romantic connection with the director was important for the film
Love weakens our walls, and that’s exactly what Anitta got when she enlisted the help of “Larissa” co-director Pedro Cantelmo.
Cantelmo, who also narrates the documentary, was Anitta’s childhood friend and crush. Throughout the film, they rekindle their bond with frank bedside conversations and even a playful shower scene. The nostalgic touch was refreshing for Anitta, who has previously been the subject of docuseries.
“Before, when we were having people filming, that was not very intimate to me. I would very quickly wear my shell, and I wasn’t feeling vulnerable enough to just show who I was,” Anitta reflects. “Knowing that he knew me since I was a kid, I knew that there was no pretending. There was no mask that could actually convince him because he knew me forever.”
While her effortless intimacy with Cantelmo “made the movie a little romance story,” Anitta teases, she says the vulnerability she found made her “more comfortable to open up, to show who I am and to show people the most important message … (which) is that no matter how much money you have, no matter if you’re famous or not, we all deal with internal battles.”
How Anitta changed her love life by looking inward
While Anitta’s romance with Cantelmo ended, the singer has gotten to know her own heart better.
“This whole time, I was just thinking I couldn’t find the right person, but nowadays I just think I was not ready to work on a relationship,” Anitta says. “Now I understand that a relationship is something that requires a lot of work from both sides.”
In the documentary, Anitta laments the challenges of dating as a superstar, from deciding whether or not to date someone famous to navigating the awkwardness of love interests intimidated by her celebrity.
But the most important thing, says the “Romeo” singer, is “who I am as a partner.”
“We always attract what we are vibrating,” Anitta says. “And now that I’m just opening myself to the idea and the understanding that I need to work on myself, to work on being available and putting a relationship as a priority, then I’m attracting people like that.”
What Anitta has learned from her record-breaking success
In addition to pulling back the curtain on her personal life, “Larissa” revels in the historic feats for Anitta, including becoming the first Brazilian solo artist to perform on the Coachella mainstage. The songstress was slated to return to the Coachella Valley for a pair of performances in April but pulled out due to “unexpected personal reasons.”
Anitta also broke worldwide records with her reggaeton smash “Envolver,” a song that made her both the first solo Latin artist to reach No.1 on Spotify and the first female solo artist to win Best Latin at the MTV Video Music Awards.
“Everything had a piece of history for me, and I am really proud of it,” Anitta says. “I just wish I had enjoyed it a little bit more when it was happening instead of just chasing for more.”
This outlook of approaching life “with enjoyment” rather than ruthless ambition came into play earlier this year when she was up for best Latin pop album at the Grammy Awards (she lost to Shakira.)
“I learned how to always see things in a positive way and not an anxiety or pressure (of), ‘We need more,’” Anitta says. “There’s no reason to keep going with the journey if there’s no pleasure on it, if there’s no grace on it.”
Anitta on the power of representing Brazilian funk
The arrival of “Larissa” comes nearly a year after Anitta released her sixth album “Funk Generation,” a record whose sound traded in the R&B-inflected dance-pop and reggaeton of her previous releases for the homegrown style of Brazilian funk. The controversial hip-hop genre, long criticized for its explicit lyrics on sexuality and violence, also informed the singer’s follow-up “Ensaios da Anitta,” released in December.
Anitta’s love letter to Brazil struck a chord, with “Funk Generation” spawning the Latin Grammy-nominated hit “Mil Veces,” as well as the global Baile Funk Experience tour.
“Brazilian funk is a rhythm that went through a lot of prejudice, a lot of struggle, and for me to see it winning like that is really important,” Anitta says. “Doing this album was this whole path of just going for it and showing people that we can do it.”
Why a ‘comfortable life’ never made Anitta happy
So, where do Anitta and Larissa go from here after finally uniting?
The documentary’s closing scenes see Anitta grapple with the reevaluation of her happiness after the pop star conquered her dreams of material success. “If I lost it all tomorrow, would I be happy? That’s what I want to test,” she reflects during a late-night beach trip in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro.
“When I was poor, I used to think that I was going to be happy when I had money to live a comfortable life,” Anitta says. “That was not true because when I got money to live a comfortable life, I thought I needed more money. I thought I needed more success.”
Our pop heroine has discovered a new power: embracing the present, no matter what it brings.
“Happiness nowadays is being aware and conscious that life has ups and downs,” Anitta says. “Just deal with it with the tranquility to understand that it all comes and goes.”
