Does world-famous Brazilian singer Anitta have a connection to RI? What we found.

Rhode Island is a great place to be from.

The scenery and the history, the food and the culture, the manageable size and the people — we could go on.

But not everyone is lucky enough to be from here. Even so, the Ocean State has had an outsized impact on popular culture and world events, knitting a web of influence around the world.

To celebrate this great locale, The Providence Journal is beginning a series, "Three Degrees of Rhode Island," to challenge ourselves to connect famous personalities to Rhode Island in three steps or less.

A reader inspired this next foray.

She's from Brazil and speaks five languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian and French.

But it's something else that Anitta can do with her voice that has made her world-famous. Born Larissa de Macedo Machado in 1993, Anitta sure can sing.

Why is Anitta famous?

She has performed with Madonna and the Black Eyed Peas. She has topped the charts. She's been nominated for a Grammy and won MTV and American Music awards.

All that fame is probably what prompted a reader to ask us to tie her to Rhode Island.

Two degrees separate Anitta from Rhode Island

Tying Anitta to Rhode Island was a bit tricky. As far as we know, she's never been here. And, although direct connections abound to places in Connecticut and Massachusetts, that was as close as we could get to Rhode Island until we dug deep into the record books.

First degree: Anitta was one of six music record breakers in 2022, along with Taylor Swift, recognized by Guinness

The folks at Guinness World Records named Anitta one of six music record breakers of 2022. They recognized her for two achievements:

First Latin solo artist to reach No. 1 on Spotify.

First female solo artist to win Best Latin at the MTV Video Music Awards, for her video "Envolver."

The other five artists Guinness recognized were BTS, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Adele and Taylor Swift, who was noted for most-streamed album on Spotify in 24 hours, most day-one streams of an album and most-streamed act in 24 hours on Spotify.

Second degree: Taylor Swift owns a house in Westerly

We might accuse you of living under a rock if you didn't know that Swift owns a mansion in the Watch Hill section of Westerly, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The place has been a magnet for people who want to get arrested for trespassing, as well as the venue for celebrity parties.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Anitta hasn't been to RI, but is there a connection? What we found