Ivete Sangalo, a Brazilian Belter, Extends Her Reach Kena Betancur/Reuters Ivete Sangalo first toured America in 2010, including a show at Madison Square Garden, above. If Ivete Sangalo were an American singer, rather than the most popular female vocalist in Brazil, she would undoubtedly be described as a belter. Onstage, she is bold, brassy and boisterous, part of a lineage that includes Tina Turner, Janis Joplin and Bette Midler, and on her records she has often favored songs that allow her to emote loudly and dramatically. "To be able to entertain people is a triumph, but the funny thing is that I never dreamed as a child about being a singer," says Ms. Sangalo. It's an approach that has worked splendidly for Ms. Sangalo, who on Saturday will be performing at the Prudential Center in Newark. She has sold more than 15 million records as a solo artist; is said by the Brazilian press to be the country's highest-paid active performer, earning up to $500,000 a show; has 8.5 million followers on Twitter; and runs her own production company. "To be able to entertain people is a triumph, but the funny thing is that I never dreamed as a child about being a singer, never looked in the mirror and played at being a pop star," Ms. Sangalo, 41, said in an interview this week at a Manhattan hotel. "I played at being an actress, and it wasn't until I started going to Carnival as a teenager and heard all that loud, joyous music blaring from the trucks that I said to myself, "There's nothing I'd rather do than this." " Ms. Sangalo (pronounced San-GAHL-oh) is the leading exponent of an upbeat and often raucous style known as axé music, which combines a variety of Brazilian and foreign influences into a high-octane blend, reminiscent of what is heard at Carnival. Samba and reggae are the most obvious sources, but rock, soul and Caribbean genres like salsa and merengue, as well as local regional rhythms, also enter the mix. Her enormous popularity illustrates the gap between foreign perceptions of Brazilian music and the reality there. While singer-songwriters like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Marisa Monte win plaudits abroad for their subtle vocals and sophisticated melodies and harmonies, Brazil's charts are dominated by axé, romantic pop ballads and a local version of country music called sertaneja. "For better or worse, Ivete reflects the state of Brazilian popular music at a moment when people are buying a lot of upbeat, simple dance music with lyrics that are very basic," Chris McGowan, a co-author of the pop music history "The Brazilian Sound," said in a telephone interview from Brazil. She's a consummate professional with a powerful, controlled voice that can soar over drums and polyrhythms. On the other hand, there is not much subtlety about her and no great artistry, just pure show business. Increasingly, the popularity of Ms. Sangalo, a former model with dark, expressive eyes; a husky voice; and an effervescent personality, extends beyond the stage and recordings. She appears regularly in television and print ads and on the cover of celebrity-oriented magazines, has been adopted by players on the national soccer team as their muse, has branched out into acting and has also shot fashion spreads for Brazilian Vogue and other magazines. "She's not just a singer or entertainer, she's also a personality whom people here like a lot, someone who is admired and seen as a role model," Ricardo Pessanha, the other author of "The Brazilian Sound," said from Rio de Janeiro. Women in particular are inspired by her, seeing her as a person who is strong, independent, happy, well-dressed and fulfilled, with a child and lots of money. Ms. Sangalo was born in the interior of the state of Bahia, in Juazeiro, also the birthplace of João Gilberto, one of the fathers of the bossa nova. As a child, the youngest of a brood of six, she listened to all kinds of Brazilian music, but after her family moved to Salvador, the capital of Bahia, the most musically rich state in a country obsessed with music, her horizons broadened to include reggae and American pop and soul music. "I adore Sly and the Family Stone, George Clinton, Prince, Kool and the Gang and especially Stevie Wonder," she said. Normally, "I don't do covers, but I bring them into my music and translate them into the percussion lines." After Ms. Sangalo's father, a jeweler, died when she was a teenager, she began playing the bars of Salvador, accompanying herself on guitar and learning to project above the din and disarm potentially hostile crowds with humor and between-song patter. She joined a group called Banda Eva in 1993, had several hit records with them, and then ventured out on her own in 1999.