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Anitta has been in superstar mode lately. When she hops on the phone Tuesday, it’s her one day off this week in between her Ensaios da Anitta shows, her yearly tradition of festival-like concerts leading up to Brazil’s Carnival. She’s been holding four- to five-hour performances every Saturday and Sunday in a different city, often clad in decadent, rhinestone-covered stage looks. (This year, the theme is sports, so picture a bedazzled hockey jersey or baseball uniform.) These are the kind of theatrics, spectacle, and energy that have rightfully earned the Brazilian entertainer widespread renown and adoration. But who is Anitta, born Larissa de Macedo Machado, beneath all that glitter and larger-than-life persona? This might be the year we finally find out.
Thanks to her upcoming Netflix documentary (Larissa: The Other Side of Anitta), new music, and a just-launched True Religion campaign, Anitta is ready to show the world her true self. Her hope is to encourage others to do the same and embrace “not only the one that we are on stage or on social media, but also the people that we are inside,” she says.
She shares a similar message in the True Religion campaign video, which traces her rise as a musician: “When you know who you are, nothing can stop you. If I didn’t love myself, nobody else would.” The brand’s spring/summer 2025 collection was inspired by the ’90s and aughts, with cropped T-shirts, distressed denim, exposed stitching, and super-short shorts. With the slogan “own your true,” it’s all about embracing your individuality—which just so happens to align with Anitta’s next era.
In an exclusive interview with ELLE.com, the two-time Grammy nominee and 2025 Coachella performer discusses teaming up with True Religion, hanging out with Shakira, and her new song “Romeo,” which drops today.
What drew you to this True Religion campaign?
I thought it was really interesting, because the campaign is all about your true self and who you are, celebrating your truth. And to me, that’s very important, because that’s the moment of my career that I’m [in], trying to come back and look inside [myself]. So when I saw that was the main story around the campaign, I got really excited.
Are there parts of your true self that the world still needs to learn about, or that you’d love to show us?
Yeah. I just announced a new documentary on Netflix, and it’s going to talk exactly about that, about the part of me that nobody knows, my true reality, who I am, my true self, and me as Larissa, which is my real name, and not Anitta. It was crazy, because when I saw the ideas of the True Religion campaign, I was like, wow, this is so much of what we’re doing with Netflix and my new documentary, showing the other side of me, the real person behind the character and the image that people believe when they see on stage.
What do you think people will be most surprised to learn?
I think people are going to understand that all of us have this duality. With social media nowadays, we’re only able to see happy people with happy lives and things that bring engagement. It’s like everyone has a character, has a persona, and we’re forgetting the real person behind all of that.
True Religion jeans have always been an iconic staple. Do you remember your first pair?
I think it was the first time I traveled to America. It was many, many years ago. And I was like, wow, I have to have one of these to be cool. It was really, really special to me. And I bought some for my whole family.
I noticed that you’re wearing a pair of teeny-tiny shorts in the campaign. Do you feel like micro shorts are making a comeback? Some people have mixed feelings on TikTok, but what is your say?
To me, it’s really good, because I dance a lot. Every time I try new outfits on, I make sure I dance a little bit to [see] how it’s going to look when I go out and I want to dance. Being a Brazilian, we’re obsessed with dancing, moving. The party for us is all about dancing, so I love the tiny shorts, because then I’m able to make the moves.
Since True Religion was established in the 2000s, its rise is really synonymous with that era. Are there any 2000s fashion trends that you love?
I love when the jeans are very low.
Low-rise?
I really like that.
I think some people are still scared to bring that back, but I feel like once you’re seen wearing them, everyone will follow suit.
I honestly don’t understand why people are so scared of wearing what they want. They’re always dependent on somebody to wear it first so they can start doing it, and I’m the opposite. I always want to dress up the opposite of what everyone is doing. So yeah, it’s really different to me.
We missed you at the Grammys. Were you watching from afar, or did you have a show that night?
I wasn’t watching, because I had a concert in Brazil. It was scheduled so long ago, so when I got aware of the nomination, I couldn’t change it anymore. But it was fun. In the category that I was nominated in, Shakira won, and she’s such a big friend. I love her so much. We’re actually going to be together here in Rio. She’s coming in the next days, so we’re going to spend some friend time together because I really love her as a friend, and I was super, super happy for her. I think she deserves it all.
What does a hangout between Anitta and Shakira look like?
I think people won’t believe [it], but we like to take care of ourselves, so when we are together, we do treatments for the skin, for the soul, for the body. We do some wellness treatments just to feel good. I’m a very spiritual person. I like to do meditations. I like to do yoga and things that are going to help me to look inside. I think that’s what we do when we are together.
You guys will probably be celebrating together, too. How did it feel to have Funk Generation nominated for the Best Latin Pop Album Grammy?
It was really exciting. I thought just to have the visibility of this rhythm [Brazilian funk] that, in my country, suffered so much prejudice and so many people were against it. Just to see the recognition of the rhythm in such an important award [ceremony], it was really, really nice for all of us—not only for me, but everyone in Brazil.
It seems like you’re about to drop new music as well. I’ve seen the teasers for “Romeo,” and it’s dropping the same day this campaign launches. What can we expect?
You can expect an extension of everything that you already see in the True Religion campaign, which is these two people connecting, Romeo and Juliet. I think people are expecting Juliet to be someone [else] or a feature, but in reality, Juliet is Larissa—it’s me, my true self, the one inside that nobody sees. So people are going to see the two versions of me in the music video, which is the creator and the creature, and I think that’s a really beautiful concept and an extension of all the work that I’m doing.
Is this the start of a new album for you?
Yes. That’s the idea of the concept of [this] whole new moment of my life and my career. I hope the fans enjoy it, because I really want to show that, as an artist, I have another side that I didn’t have the courage to show until now.
Definitely. I know you’ve mentioned the Netflix documentary a bit, but what was the actual filming experience? How long were you filming, and was it uncomfortable at first to be vulnerable in front of the cameras?
No, it was three years of filming. What had happened was, in the beginning, my idea was always to show Larissa, my other side, but I couldn’t see it. We were filming for, I don’t know, maybe two years already, and I couldn’t see Larissa in any of the footage. So in one of my meditations, I remembered this boy that was [in] my love life from when I was a teenager. I’ve known him for so many years, and we’re still connected. I asked him to film me. So when that happened, we got the movie exactly how I imagined, because I had enough intimacy with him to be myself in front of the cameras, because he was the one filming.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
