Following a globally successful career, Brazilian singer Anitta is asserting her heritage with her latest album Equilibrium. The album is a significant step up lyrically and thematically from 2024’s Funk Generation, seeing Anitta push herself artistically. It is an ambitious record that is deeply evocative of Afro-Brazilian traditions and spirituality, all of which have shaped Anitta personally and creatively.
Still a hidden gem to most audiences in the UK, Brazilian singer Anitta has been a mainstay of Latin music for 10 very fruitful years. In that time, she has been credited with popularising Funk Carioca internationally. She has also established herself as a crossover success, maintaining a devoted following in Brazil while garnering a fan base across Latin America and the US with her use of Spanish in her songs. Her new album, Equilibrium, is by a considerable stretch her most creatively ambitious.
Anitta set out to make an album that is far more introspective and personal than her prior works, displaying a maturity that is refreshing. The direction of Equilibrium displays her as a far more conscientious and cerebral artist. Through the track list, she touches on several facets of herself that make the album feel like the first time we, as an audience, are really able to see her for the intellectual creator she is. For most of her career, she has been the bombshell of Latin music, making infectious music with a strong charge of sexuality. Equilibrium is such a clear deepening of her public persona. She does not divorce herself from her prior work; however, the Anitta we know and love is still very much the one who made Equilibrium, but we can experience her at her most multifaceted here.
Anitta, the brasileira
Equilibrium is, in many ways, a tour of the different genres that have developed in Brazil. Anitta gives fans their expected dose of Funk Carioca on the song Vai Dar Caô, calling back to Funk Generation, while adding an additional layer through the lyrical theming that is a significant step up from the previous album. Alongside her comfort zone of Funk Carioca, the album heavily utilises Samba, Axé, and MPB, with some use of both Reggae and R&B. This creates an album that feels inherently like a summer record, calling to one’s mind images of Brazilian beaches and one too many caipirinhas. It is a unique project in Anitta’s discography. I have enjoyed her music for many years, but often felt wanting for more from her, yearning to hear her give her international audience a real taste of what Brazilian music is outside of the admittedly infectious beats of Brazilian Funk.
Possibly most assertive of this genre shift is the opening track, Desgraça, which opens with a vocal riff that, in Anitta’s own words, is evocative of Carmen Miranda. It tells us that Equilibrium is an album that is far more interested in celebrating tradition than it is in appeasing a global audience. Inadvertently, it is this cultural authenticity that makes me far more engaged with it, as a non-Brazilian listener. There is a greater artistic direction on Equilibrium, one that mirrors the recent releases of many of Anitta’s peers in the Latin market. Karol G’s Tropicoqueta, released last year, similarly felt like an inward approach to genre and sound direction, reflecting the sounds of Colombia. Both albums concern themselves with celebrating the artist’s cultural heritage, even potentially weaponising their mainstream success to Trojan Horse their audiences into listening to music otherwise not easily accessible internationally. Equally, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos is an album that exists as a celebration of Puerto Rico.
The social climate, particularly in the United States, warrants more than ever that the global Latin community can see their traditions and cultures reflected in the music they listen to. I truly believe that this is part of, whether intentional or not, the strong shift away from Reggaeton by many artists, leaning in to the more traditional and overlooked music that will have been central to their own upbringings. Anitta’s work on Equilibrium feels unique; unlike the other examples given, she is Brazilian. Brazil has a unique linguistic, cultural, and historical context compared to its Hispanic neighbours. Naturally, this album is predominantly in Portuguese, but also a lot more inherently connected to African and Indigenous traditions that have shaped so much of Brazil’s musical heritage. This can be heard on tracks like Bemba, which is heavily influenced by Bahia, or Meia Noite.
Candomblé and the spirit of Equilibrium
As a follower of Candomblé, a syncretic faith rooted in African, Indigenous, and Catholic influences, Anitta has explored spirituality on Equilibrium. The album draws heavily on Candomblé and related traditions like Umbanda, collectively known as Macumba, to define how Anitta relates to her own spirituality. Particularly on tracks like Deus Existe, Nanã, Ternura, and Ouro, she invokes the deities and spirits of Macumba that she herself has a deep connection to. For people who aren’t Brazilian, these references are some of the only exposure they will have to the pluralistic religious patchwork that defines so much of Brazil’s spiritual heritage. Particularly for Afro-Brazilians, the religions of Candomblé and Umbanda are their umbilical cord linking them back to their African origins. Through these practices, they can maintain some of the cultural heritage that was lost during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, of which one in four stolen Africans were sent to Brazil.
In her own words, the album seeks to dismiss the idea that faith is antithetical to celebration. She doesn’t desire to be solemn in her spirituality, but joyful. Despite the recent success of Rosalia’s Lux, typically, religious music is often trite and unavoidably patriarchal. Drawing on her own relationship with Candomblé, the spirituality on Equilibrium feels celebratory and also, importantly, feminist. In the song Nanã, she declares that she belongs to Nanã, one of the most significant and feminine of the Orixás. Known in Macumba as the deity of the primordial mud, she is the ultimate mother figure associated with the cycle of life, death, and reincarnation. Anitta uses a Funk beat to create a song that is made for dance, while using its lyrics to praise a goddess. It is an approach to feminist spirituality that can only exist outside of the patriarchal framework of Abrahamic religions.
Equilibrium is, in many ways, an album about religion. The references to Candomblé and the Orixás are so evident that it feels inherent to the DNA of Equilibrium. Particularly given the basis in Afro-Brazilian traditions, it feels like a reclamation of tradition through a pop-adjacent lens. This does not detract from the enjoyability of the album; the religious theming is overt but does not seek to proselytise to the listener. So much of the significance of the spiritual motifs on Equilibrium is the fact that it encourages a blending between the carnal need to dance as you listen and the devotional quality of many of the songs.
Centring women’s voices
Equilibrium features a number of artists, most of whom are fellow Brazilians. The exception is the appearance of Shakira on Choka Choka. It was released as a single a week ahead of the album. On Choka Choka, we see Shakira sing in Portuguese, and as a Shakira fan, I couldn’t be happier. Brazil was Shakira’s first major market outside of Spanish speaking countries, and throughout her career, she has received a lot of love there. Choka Choka feels like Shakira’s love letter to Brazil. The collaboration felt overdue, knowing that both artists have maintained a friendship over the past few years and Anitta’s public admiration for Shakira. Citing her as ‘the Queen of Latin America’, Anitta brings out a bombastic side of Shakira. Choka Choka is explosive and insanely catchy, the hook alone becoming an earworm on impact. Despite her inclusion being a relatively late in the game development on the album, Shakira fits seamlessly into the run of Equilibrium.
Other significant collaborators are Marina Sena, Luedji Luna, and Liniker. By working with other Brazilian women, Anitta shares her international stage with talented artists with less presence outside of Brazil. The choice to feature several other women on the album affirms the undertone of feminist messaging that emanates throughout the lyrical content. Particularly, Marina Sena makes Mandinga her own. As she opens the second verse of the song, she commands it. So often, given the long standing dominance of collaboration in Latin music, featured artists can feel like mere additional texture, but Sena is absolutely essential for Mandinga to work. The same can be said for Luedji with her appearance on Bemba.
The women featured on Equilibrium are also emblematic of Anitta’s taste. Working with Liniker, the first transwoman to win a Latin Grammy, she displays how astute her taste is. Collaborating with artists who are noted critically demonstrates a desire to court critical acclaim herself. Equilibrium does feel, in some way, to be intentionally a more critically minded album than past work.
What is balance?
Equilibrium is inherently an exploration of balance. Anitta’s lyrical approach is far more precise and conceptually dense. Tracks like Mandinga and Ternura are notably elevated, with far more colourful and vibrant imagery invoked. Mandinga establishes the idea of balance on the album. In it, Anitta expresses how she feels untouchable, divinely protected, from the persisting advances of an ex. It sees her less in frustration and more self-assured, something that comes from personal growth and her spirituality. Further, the theme of love in general is far more grounded in this project. Past albums of Anitta’s have explored love, but on Equilibrium, it feels less like exploration than it does testimony. She is more rooted in what she wants and who she is, making the romantic musings on the album feel a lot more evolved as a result. While this doesn’t make for anything revolutionary, it does make for something that is very relaxing and relatable.
Balance is inherently a hard thing to achieve. People are creatures of extremes after all. Anitta seems to also recognise this. The album’s closing track, Ouro, is her closing mantra, her spiritual musings for the listener. Drawing both on the Candomblé that denominates the album and Buddhist and Hindu concepts, she occupies the position of a guru musing on life itself. She instructs to maintain a connection to the middle path, using it as a North Star, without denying yourself the times life makes you step away from it. The middle path becomes something spectral rather than directional. That seems to be the central thesis of what Anitta is trying to say on Equilibrium. To her, the balance is found in connection to all sides of herself. The girl who gives offerings to Oxun is not opposed to the girl who shakes her ass in the club. The equilibrium is honouring every facet of who you are. It makes Equilibrium an unexpectedly personal and even intimate album.
Equilibrium, and the politics of joy
I can’t help but also surmise that, unintentionally, Equilibrium speaks to the melting pot that is Brazil in a way. The album has been described by Anitta as her most Brazilian, something solidified when you listen to it. Sonically, the tracklist is a sampler of many Brazilian musical traditions. At points, you can hear tranquil Bossa Nova that bleeds into fiery Samba that erupts into Funk Carioca. The religious idiosyncrasies of Brazil are heavily prominent, as previously discussed. Anitta presents the indigenous spiritual practices of Brazil with real care and joy, again representing a balance between orthodoxy and celebration. Inherently tied to the Macumba traditions are the Afro-Brazilian communities that developed them. As a woman of Afro-Brazilian heritage herself, she centres their culture with care.
On Choka Choka, she also celebrated the indigenous Brazilian community, summoning the Quarup, an indigenous funeral rite that involves ritualistic boxing. She has discussed how she intends to reflect the positive aspects of indigenous culture, celebrating them in a country where the conversation is often centred on their socio-economic struggles. She also really invokes the natural landscape of Brazil, incorporating elements like the sound of running water, references to the environment, and the weather in the album’s lyrics. The album imagery also heavily leans into nature. It already begins to draw the mind’s eye to the beauty and richness of Brazil as a nation.
Despite being one of the most diverse countries on earth, discrimination in myriad forms is a significant challenge there. The racial dynamics of Brazilian society are informed by White supremacy, with Afro-Brazilians and Indigenous groups often facing racism. Additionally, the inclusion of a transgender collaborator is significant. LGBTQ+ individuals in Brazil face discrimination and, particularly for transwomen of colour like Liniker, serious violence. Anitta’s album likely was not made to be inherently political, but both in the international context and the domestic, there is something innately political about its unflinching multicultural message. What is most significant is that this message isn’t one of struggle. The chorus of Meia Noite literally sounds like a war chant. Equilibrium shows that embracing tradition is not conservative in the way we may view it in the West. Her tradition is radical and pluralistic.
From the favelas of Rio to the Orixá altars of Bahia, Equilibrium is a musical tour of Brazil. Her lyrical and sonic approach is a huge step up from previous work. Without a doubt, it is her most ambitious album and one that I think reflects a realignment of Anitta as an artist. She’s proven she can jump on a Reggaeton beat and make a banger. She’s laid the groundwork for Funk Carioca outside of Brazil. I feel like she’s now trying to push herself artistically. The diversity within Equilibrium presents Brazilian cultural diversity, not with the intention to tell you how it enriches Anitta as an artist, but to show you. Lowkey, you could even say that for an artist who has such a large presence across Latin America, this album is a piece of Brazilian soft diplomacy. She is her most authentic, her most dynamic, and her most introspective. Equilibrium delivers just that, Anitta as her best balanced Brazilian self.
