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The Weeknd & Anitta Deliver ‘São Paulo’ Song & Video: Stream It Now

The Weeknd & Anitta finally delivered their "São Paulo" collab on Wednesday night.

Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye performs on stage at MorumBIS on Sept. 7, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye performs on stage at MorumBIS on Sept. 7, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Pedro Vilela/Getty Images

The Weeknd and Anitta finally delivered their “São Paulo” collaboration on Wednesday (Oct. 30).

The song came along with a new music video, which — as teased in cryptic previews for the collab — featured Anitta with an exaggerated baby bump. In the clip, Anitta’s pregnant belly sings The Weeknd’s parts, with lips emerging where her belly button is. The video ends with the word “Phantasm” flashing, though it’s unclear whether that could be an album or song title or something else entirely.


The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) previously told Billboard Brazilin his cover story that his frequent collaborator Mike Dean had asked Anitta for a vocal recording to complement The Weeknd’s set last October when he performed two nights in São Paulo during his After Hours Til Dawn Tour. “What she sent was so awesome that we created the song,” the “Blinding Lights” hitmaker said. The two debuted “São Paulo” in the titular city’s Estádio MorumBIS on Sept. 7 during a special one-night-only show that was livestreamed. “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,” he added of “São Paulo.”

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“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 honored and flattered,” Anitta told Billboard Brazil. “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.”

He premiered other new songs from his upcoming album Hurry Up Tomorrow, including “Dancing With the Flames” and “Timeless” with Playboi Carti that have since been released. The former reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the latter peaked at No. 3, making it The Weeknd’s 19th top 10 hit and highest-charting debut on the all-genre songs tally and Carti’s fifth top 10.

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Listen to “São Paulo” below.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

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Jason Derulo and Nora Fatehi
Mohamed Saad

Jason Derulo and Nora Fatehi

Pop

Nora Fatehi and Jason Derulo Join Forces for ‘Snake’: Inside the Globe-Spanning Collaboration

Fatehi, a Canadian-Moroccan Bollywood superstar, hopes the new single "introduces me to the international market in a very unique way," while Derulo preps new music of his own.

Nora Fatehi and Jason Derulo have kicked off 2025 with a single designed to combine cultures. On Thursday (Jan. 16), the Bollywood superstar and veteran hitmaker unveiled “Snake,” a thumping dance collaboration that joins East Asian melodies with American dance-pop production, creating a sensual duet with global aspirations.

Fatehi tells Billboard that the track came courtesy of a discussion with producer Tommy Brown (Ariana Grande, Victoria Monét) about finding a sound that could unite audiences in different regions of the world. “My main word was ‘exotic,’ and I wanted to make sure that it was dance-oriented — that whoever heard the song would want to move,” she recalls. “And after finishing the song, we were thinking about which artist would really be a good collaborator, and Jason’s name came up. And I’ve been a fan, and someone who’s really appreciated his journey, for a very long time.”

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