With the clout (no song allusion intended) of Cardi B’s recent “WAP” success, Anitta has picked the perfect moment to feature her on her latest single, “Me Gusta,” so as to further tap into American audiences (for some reason still desirable to musicians as a mark of “hitting the big time”). Along with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers (who has collaborated with other Latino powerhouses Bad Bunny and Becky G in the past), the song isn’t really about much, which is perhaps why the video, directed by Daniel Russell, requires so much over the top fanfare–primarily with regard to the sartorial. Yet the setting of Salvador, Brazil (the capital of Bahia) is itself a milieu that attracts plenty of attention away from the lyrics, with colorful building facades that remind one of Lisbon (and indeed, Anitta very much sings in her Portuguese lilt for this track).
To perhaps hedge their bets on enough smoke and mirrors that the song is basically three minutes of Anitta repeatedly saying “me gusta” (albeit to a banger of a beat), the concept for the video centers on a fashion show that slowly begins to take shape. It starts with Anitta sitting in a window in an oversized hat and neon green bodysuit before she struts down the white carpet laid before her on the cobblestoned square. From there, her ensemble switches to a leopard print on lime green pantsuit with a black bra as her “shirt,” and chandelier earrings and square-shaped oversized black sunglasses as her crowning accessories. We then cut to Anitta in a reddish pink getup, with a sort of bondage-y bikini-style top and another hat as she plays the drum. The women who appear in the doorway behind her at times are equally as bedecked in the trappings of couture. Of course, none of them can top Cardi B, who appears on the scene just after the one minute mark.
With a modest “flower crown” consisting of one light and one dark purple rose, Cardi is, in fact, a head-to-toe vision of purple. A transparent bustier with purple bra cups is complemented by a floor-length skirt of flowers. She sways side to side for the onlookers that were formerly watching Anitta, but now seem all too entranced by a new Latina, one of Dominicano descent (for Cardi likes to ensure her bag gets fuller by catering to as wide an array of audiences as possible, evidenced by her “root tapping” in “I Like It”).
In overt homage to Rihanna (since that bia ain’t never gonna release R9), Cardi sings, “He like to eat the cake like it’s my b-day.” She also continues to perpetuate the stereotype of herself as being a girl who enjoys a touch of the 365 Days action with the lines, “Boy, I like it rough, don’t take it easy/Gangsta, yeah, I like it in the bando/Me gustan lo macho y que coman cuca/Que haciendo el amor me jalen la peluca/Él me dijo que le fascina mi bunda/A mí me gusta el dinero, no te confunda/I like girls that kiss on girls, eso me pone on fire/I like workin’, I like murkin’ all my haters/Yo tengo el sazón de una afro-latina/Y muevo mi cintura como Shakira.” A bit of a flex to compare her hip-moving talents to Shakira, but fine. As usual, there’s a lot to process with what Cardi has just said, but the overarching themes of all her songs remain present: she likes to be eaten out, getting her wig pulled during sex and, most of all, money.
Anitta, not one to be showed up, re-materializes at the bottom of a staircase with another white carpet rolled out, this time appearing in a vibrant rainbow ombre’d dress with other women flanking her at either side of the staircase. This is intercut with models walking down the “runway” that is the street in their own standout attire. The fashion show ramps up in a more official capacity by the time Towers’ rap comes along, which is just as absurdist as Cardi’s when translated to English, one such sound bite being, “She’s not a lesbian, but sometimes she fucks her friend secretly/To the rhythm of the music.”
While Anitta might be bisexual, considering Cardi was already part of an ill-advised “bi-curious anthem,” maybe this lyric should have gone a bit more through the censors. But oh well, who cares what they’re saying when they’re all dressed like exotic birds? At least, that seems to be the message behind the video.
