Anitta penned her verses for The Weeknd’s new song “as a joke” and was “flattered” it made his new album.
The ‘Blinding Lights’ hitmaker brought out the Brazilian pop star to debut the track, seemingly called ‘São Paulo’, from his upcoming LP ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’, at his concert in the city on Saturday (07.09.24).
In a cover interview with Billboard Brasil, the 34-year-old star – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – gushed: “Anitta is a great friend. What she sent was so awesome that we created the song.
“We knew it was too special to just play on stage. We saw great potential in the song and found the beat, which is the heart of the show.”
The 31-year-old star – who hails from Rio de Janeiro – was surprised that her “joke” lyrics were taken seriously and admitted it’s a “dream come true” to work with the Canadian superstar.
She told the magazine: “I wrote some verses as a joke and never imagined they would become serious. Suddenly, I received the finished song. I loved it! I felt very honoured and flattered.
“I’ve always been a big fan of his and his work. I never imagined this would happen, and now it’s a dream come true. It’s a little more Brazilian funk, as promised, around the world.”
The Weeknd debuted several other new tracks at the one-off live-streamed concert – which also saw him debut a dazzling new production after his ‘After Hours Til Dawn Tour’ of 2022 and 2023 – including ‘The Crowd’, ‘Wake Me Up’, ‘Too Late’, ‘Take Me Back To LA’, and ‘Dancing in the Flames’, as per setlist.com.
He was also joined by rapper Playboi Carti at the Estádio MorumBI stadium, for a cover of Travis Scott and Playboi’s song ‘Fe!n’ and they also debuted a new track said to be produced by Pharrell, Mike Dean and Ojivolta.