Anitta wears lingerie and veil at the MTV VMAs 2024

The Brazilian artist spoke with Cosmopolitan Britain Earlier this year, she spoke about her journey in the industry and her rise to fame. “My career has been an exercise in selfishness,” she said. “But I was born with this feeling to keep going.”

She continued: “I always knew what I was going to do. I told my family that I was going to be a singer, all my stories of Exactly how my life would go. 'There's the stadium I'm going to play in. Here's where I'm going to build my house. This is the TV show I'm going to appear on.'”

Anitta, whose real name is Larissa de Macedo Machado, has created a stage persona that is separate from her. “I created 'Anitta' when I was a teenager,” she said. “She was sexy and intelligent, feminine and aggressive – all of those things at once. I wasn't even an artist yet and I had this other me. I thought if I were different, maybe my life would be different? I wanted to create this persona to do the things I didn't have the courage to do. I'm still learning more about my self-confidence.”

Alyssa Bailey is senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees celebrity and royal coverage (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). Previously, she worked at InStyle And Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she enjoys running around Central Park, having people take #ootd photos of her, and exploring New York City.