Anitta on her English album debut: “You’ve got to start over from zero in another language”

Anitta has spoken about recording her English album debut, explaining how she felt she was starting her career from the beginning in a new language.

The Brazilian megastar who recently released ‘Faking Love’ featuring Saweetie, and is due to make her album debut with Warner Records, explained that she felt she had to start from “zero” in English.

Speaking to Rolling Stone UK, Anitta said: “I have my career super big in Brazil, then you’ve got to start over from zero in another language, start in a new market, all the things I used to do 10 years ago in Brazil.

“I’ve got to do it all over again in Spanish then in English and it’s a lot of work. You’ve got to have no ego. You can’t be scared of risking or failing.”

She added: “I was used to a release of a 10-year-old artist, 10-year-old career and I needed to forget all of this and think ‘I’m starting over so let’s expect the worst of a starter, a beginner.’”

The pop singer’s fifth studio album and her first with Warner Records will feature songs in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Her 2019 album ‘Kisses’ was also trilingual. 

She explained that despite experiencing a bigger global breakout with ‘Girl From Rio’, also becoming the first Brazilian artist to perform at this year’s MTV VMAs and the first Brazilian artist to attend the Met Gala, she does not feel the pressure of “making it” this time around in the English language market.

“I’m more mature,” she said. “So everything that happens in the beginning of any career already happened to me in my country.

“If everything goes right, it’s amazing. But if not, it’s also amazing. I’ve done so many great things that nobody has done before. So I already feel great about my career, I already feel talented. I already feel like I proved myself to myself.”

She added: “I’m not trying to do this just to be in the market. I’m trying to make some history to achieve my country’s history somehow. Me needing to deliver this message through my music but using other people’s brains because they have the language in their hands, it’s a crazy experience. And it’s not like I’m pretending to be American, I’m letting people know I’m Brazilian.” 

The now international star has also become so influential in Brazil that she has directly influenced her home country’s politics. In 2020, she convinced Brazilian politician Felipe Carreras to withdraw a controversial legal amendment that would have affected how artists were paid for copyright. Some fans even urged her to run for president.

“I didn’t know I could change politics in my country just by saying or giving my opinion,” she said. “I really started to change things in my country. And for me, it was very scary. Because I felt like ‘oh my god, it’s dangerous, because if I say something wrong, I can fuck up a lot of people’s lives.’”

She added: “I started taking classes live on my Instagram, so people could learn with me. And I could change some real laws and big things in my country. And that was crazy. I feel happy, glad, but it’s a lot of responsibility, so I’m always trying to get more knowledge and trying to do the right thing.”

Anitta’s debut English album is due to be released next year with Warner Records.