Anitta has criticized the Brazilian festival circuit for giving her fewer opportunities than international events, arguing that she receives significantly more interest from festivals outside Brazil.
The singer made the comments during an appearance on TV Brasil’s Sem Censura in August, where she discussed her international career and the global impact of Brazilian funk. She pointed specifically to her international festival bookings, including a recent performance at Lollapalooza Berlin, while noting that Rock The Mountain is currently the Brazilian festival that has booked her for 2026.
Her comments have reopened a broader conversation about the place of funk within Brazil’s mainstream festival industry.
Anitta’s International Success
Anitta has spent years attempting to take Brazilian funk to audiences outside the country, and she pointed to the reception of her 2024 album Funk Generation as evidence of how far the genre has traveled.
The project helped introduce Brazilian funk to a wider international audience and led to collaborations with major global artists. Among them was “São Paulo,” her collaboration with The Weeknd, while Anitta also noted that Travis Scott has used songs from Funk Generation during his performances.
For Anitta, the international response demonstrates that Brazilian funk has an audience far beyond Brazil.
Yet she believes that recognition has not necessarily translated into equivalent opportunities at major Brazilian festivals.
“Outside Brazil, Everyone Books Me”
During the interview, Anitta contrasted the demand she receives internationally with her experience at home.
She cited her performance at Lollapalooza Berlin and argued that international festivals consistently show interest in booking her, while opportunities in Brazil have been more limited. She singled out Rock The Mountain as a Brazilian festival that has continued to support her, with the singer scheduled to perform at the event in 2026.
The criticism is notable because Anitta is one of the Brazilian artists who has done the most to bring funk into international pop culture.
Her argument raises a question about whether Brazilian festivals are moving quickly enough to reflect the growing influence of funk in the country’s music industry.
Funk’s Global Reach
Brazilian funk has increasingly become part of the international conversation around urban music.
Artists from outside Brazil have incorporated elements of the genre into their own work, while Brazilian performers have increasingly appeared at international festivals and collaborated with global stars.
Anitta’s Funk Generation was designed in part around that international ambition.
The album connected Brazilian funk with contemporary pop and electronic sounds while maintaining the genre’s Brazilian identity. Its international collaborations helped expose funk’s rhythms and production styles to listeners who may not previously have been familiar with the genre.
That international growth makes Anitta’s criticism particularly interesting.
If Brazilian funk is attracting attention from international audiences and artists, the question becomes whether Brazil’s own festival infrastructure is giving the genre enough space.
A Bigger Conversation About Brazilian Festivals
Anitta’s comments are ultimately about more than her own booking schedule.
Brazil has one of the world’s most influential urban music cultures, with funk playing a central role in the country’s youth culture and nightlife. Yet the biggest festival stages do not always reflect the same balance of genres found in Brazil’s broader music ecosystem.
The issue is especially relevant as major festivals continue expanding their lineups and competing for audiences.
Rock in Rio’s 2026 lineup, for example, demonstrates the enormous range of Brazilian music, featuring artists from genres including rock, pop, samba, sertanejo and electronic music.
But the continued debate over funk’s position shows that representation remains an important issue.
For artists such as Anitta, the challenge is no longer simply proving that Brazilian music can succeed internationally. It is also about ensuring that the genres that have helped shape Brazil’s contemporary sound receive comparable recognition at home.
Anitta’s Challenge to the Industry
Anitta’s comments add another chapter to her long-running effort to push Brazilian funk beyond its traditional boundaries.
Her international career has demonstrated that funk can coexist with global pop, hip-hop and electronic music without losing its Brazilian identity.
Now, her criticism puts the spotlight back on Brazil itself.
If international festivals are increasingly willing to book Brazilian funk artists, Anitta’s argument suggests that Brazilian festivals should also reconsider how prominently the genre is represented on their stages.
For Brazil’s funk movement, that could be one of the most important conversations surrounding the genre’s next stage of growth.
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