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Anitta's ‘Girl from Rio’, Digital Fatigue, and Stereotype

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2022

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Abstract

In May 2021, Brazilian pop-funk superstar Anitta released ‘Girl from Rio’. The song was based on the melodic foundation of the bossa nova song ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ that became a huge international hit at the end of the 1960s bossa nova craze. ‘Girl from Rio’ features trap beats on top of the familiar melody with a clear lyrical message that critiques international stereotypes of women from Brazil. When Anitta attempted to capture the US market through TikTok and a high-profile remix, much of her critique disappeared. This article employs the concept of ‘digital fatigue’ to explore how viral musical content loses crucial aspects of its meaning through circulation and endless embodied repetition. By focusing on how the repetition of viral musical media perpetuates stereotypes, it shows how the environment for transnational success requires easy associations to spread.

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Information
Twentieth-Century Music , Volume 19 , Special Issue 3: Listening In: Musical Digital Communities in Public and Private , October 2022 , pp. 495 - 516
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Many thanks to the Listening Closely Lecture Series at Florida International University (convened by Tom Moore), the Musicology Department Forum Series at the University of Southern California (convened by Lisa Cooper Vest), and Talita Duvanel and Schuyler Whelden for help with contextual details of the initial release of ‘Girl from Rio’. Sophie Gamwell, Allie Kleber, and Benjamin Tausig all helped with thorough feedback on early drafts of this article.

References

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Videography

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