XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Toca o Nosso Aí: An Exploration of Brazilian Music within the Racially Categorized U.S. Music Market

• In Event: Intersections of Race and Gender in Brazilian Music

Abstract

This research evaluates the ways in which the work of Brazilian performers, Carmen Miranda and Anitta, continue the Latin American tradition of cleansing and repurposing music genres and cultural productions from the margins for U.S. American audiences. Similar to Brazilian performer Carmen Miranda, Anitta, up and coming crossover sensation, is the only artist in today’s U.S. popular Latin music sphere from Brazil, and thus saddled with the responsibility of representing her country. After decades of the U.S. music market’s demands of essentialized representations of Latinness, Anitta’s success abroad is attributed to her endowment of exoticized, stylized, and essentialized music that satisfies the United States’ contemporary fascination with Brazilian hypersexuality, favelas, and the music that comes from them. In this research, I will demonstrate the ways in which traces of Carmen Miranda's career and its direct implications with Getulio Vargas’ administration are present in Anitta’s music, videos, and performances. Thus, showing the ongoing legacy of Vargas’ racial democracy in Anitta’s global pop music.

Author

• Bebel DeMoura Nilo, Tulane University