Zara Larsson is the greatest pop star you don’t know. Well, technically that’s not true. Should you be reading this in Sweden, Norway or Denmark you don’t need us to tell you that Zara Larsson is the former Sweden’s Got Talent winner currently knocking out some of the smartest pop music that side of the North Sea. Here in UK however, where a proper album release is TBC, she remains a Scandinavian mystery of Wallander-esque proportions, introduced to us only last month via MNEK collaboration Never Forget You. Just 17-years old but with an astute knowledge of what makes pop music great, Zara came by the office to chat love, Beyonce and always doing the dishes…
2 Swedish things you need to introduce to the UK…
1. Fika.
I don’t know the English word for it. I don’t even think you have it. A word for just, like, sitting for a few hours, talking shit, drinking coffee and eating something sweet. It’s a verb. It’s something you do. Sometimes, when we try to get into clubs, it usually works but when it doesn’t we’re like, let’s just go fika.
2. Driving on the right.
I mean you guys are crazy driving on the left side. That’s just wrong. It even says, like, ‘Look Left’on the street because you guys are like, okay, we know we drive on the wrong side so we’re just going to write ‘Look Left’.
4 places to hang out if you’re in Stockholm…
1. Nytorget.
I usually hang out in the Soho of Stockholm. That’s the south part. The cool part. It’s chilled. They have cosy cafes and nice vintage shops.
2. Drottninggatan.
If you want to go to the city city, it’s a street called Drottninggatan. Queen Street, basically. I think it’s the same thing as Oxford Street. There are a lot of stores.
3. Old Town.
Beautiful. So beautiful. You don’t appreciate it because you live there. Actually, I don’t go there very often, except in the summertime. Then it’s really nice just to sit by the water. What I love about Stockholm is that it’s literally built on thirteen islands. The whole city is islands. So there’s a lot of water.
4. Djurgården.
That’s also a tiny island. It’s in the middle of the city. They have a really nice park. They have the amusement park. A zoo. It’s so beautiful.
6 artists / songs / concerts that have inspired me…
1. Whitney Houston.
She was definitely the first person I idolised. I was probably around seven. I was just amazed by her. And my favourite movie was The Bodyguard. She really was my biggest idol.
2. Beyonce.
When I’d just signed to Sony, I called them every day because I knew that she was doing her tour and that she was coming to Sweden. I was talking to L.A. Reid and I was, like, ‘You have to fix this!’. Then he fixed it. So I was at the very front and I was just crying and crying the whole show. Afterwards they took us backstage and she was just standing there. I started crying even more and and she was like, ‘I saw you! You were the girl crying in the audience’.
3. Where Are Ü Now by Justin Beiber.
Never Forget You was basically one of my very first sessions. We wrote it so fast. We got into the room and I was so ready. Where Are ÜNow had just come out so I was like we have to do something like this.
4. Seinabo Sey.
She’s so cool. And she’s so sweet and funny. I hope she’ll make it big because her voice is something else…We have some great artists in Sweden. I love Tove Lo, of course, and the other Tove, Tove Styrke.
5. Kehlani.
I’m obsessed with Kehlani at the moment. It’s two of her songs that I really like. Jealous and The Way.
6. The Four Seasons (Vivaldi).
I love classical music. Of course, cliché, but the first classical music I really liked was The Four Seasons. It’s just so good. There are a lot of hits in there. It’s like the Katy Perry of the classical world. Hit after hit after hit.
8 things you should know about me…
1. I’m kind of mainstream, very commercial. Pop. But I still have my opinions.
2. People always ask me about Talang [the talent show Zara won when she was 10]. I forget about it because it was almost 8 years ago and so for me it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah! That show!’. In Sweden, I won it then it went very silent for about five years until I released the Uncover EP. So it wasn’t a Kelly Clarkson thing where I won Idol and it was like ‘Yeah!’. It was more just like ‘Yeah’for five minutes.
3. I got signed when I was fourteen. Between twelve and fourteen, we were in America and we saw, like, every label. And they all thought I was too young. I was devastated. I was in my room, like, okay, it’s over. And I was twelve! I’ll be eighteen soon, so I feel like now it’s all is starting for real.
4. I’ve always been very outspoken. I always had those little chats with my teacher and my mum. But when it comes to writing songs, what’s hardest for me is to have the balls to say everything I want. To say what about this, what about that…To present your own idea is scary because people can criticise it. But they don’t. It’s not like they want to be mean. We’re all in the room to write the best song ever.
5. Love inspires my songs. I guess because it’s easy to write about and it’s really easy to relate to. My latest EP and album are all about love. One song is about being super happy in love, really just satisfied with your life, and one song is about my boyfriend finding another girl…It’s different perspectives of love basically. Of course it would be cool to sing about something else. But it always comes back to love.
6. No one in my family is musical except for me and my sister. Like, no one. Not Grandpa, Grandma. No one. So it’s really weird. Because it came from nothing. I just always knew that I wanted to sing.
7. I still live at home. I’m so spoilt. I don’t even know how to put on a washing machine. I’ve never done that in my life. So it’s on that level…But I always do the dishes.
8. I have no idea what’s going on in my life. I just go with the flow. It would be too much for me otherwise. I’m a black and white person. It’s either super extreme or nothing at all. And if I want to know what’s going on, I want to have full control. Instead, I’m, like, fuck it. Take me wherever.