Anitta and Warner Music Group have come to an agreement to part ways.
“After eleven years of successful partnership, we’ve agreed to go our separate ways,” read a statement from the label and artist. “Anitta would like to thank the Warner Music team for all their support. And the Warner team wishes Anitta all the best in future.”
The Brazilian pop star had been signed to the label for 11 years but in recent months had expressed her displeasure with the company and desire to have her contract terminated. She took those issues to social media last month, uploading a series of posts on Instagram, where she posts in English, and Twitter, where she uses Portuguese.
“Respect me,” she wrote to the label on Instagram, “instead of sending your lawyers to talk to mine about money… I already accepted the sad unfair fact that I’m the major investor here and asked the label to just do the simple job they were supposed to: promote my music.”
According to sources, the relationship between the singer and the label had become strained in recent years as “Envolver,” Anitta’s 2022 global hit which has amassed more than 500 million streams on Spotify, struggled for similar traction in the U.S. The parent album, “Versions of Me,” also included singles “Girl From Rio” and “Me Gusta,” both of which have yet to hit 100 million streams on the platform, and “Lobby” featuring Missy Elliott, which dropped in August. Per Luminate, Anitta’s on-demand song streams top 4.3 billion globally.
Anitta’s complaints on social media seemed centered on a belief that the label wasn’t doing its job in properly promoting her music. While she wasn’t specific about the purported shortcomings, Anitta had hinted that she felt pressured to include featured artists to better her chances at a hit song. In her native Brazil, Anitta is in a league of her own, carrying a social media following of 84 million between Instagram and Twitter.
Still, Anitta had made significant strides in the U.S., winning an MTV Video Music Award last year for best Latin and landing a Grammy nomination in 2023 for best new artist. She also co-hosted the Latin Grammy Awards in November alongside Laura Pausini, Luis Fonsi and Thalia.