FEATURE:
Revisiting…
Zara Larsson – Poster Girl
__________
BECAUSE she is working…
on her fourth studio album, I wanted to include Zara Larsson’s current album, Poster Girl, in Revisiting... Even though it did reach number twelve in the U.K. and three in her native Sweden, it charted low in the U.S. - and some critics did not give it a huge review. That said, many others did. I do wonder what Larsson’s new album will sound like. Poster Girl is a terrific Pop album that should be heard more now. I know songs from it are spun now and then but, as it only came out in March last year, it is deserving of more focus. Despite – as I say a lot with Pop albums – the fact there are a lot of names in the mix when it comes to producers and writers, Poster Girl is very much Zara Larsson’s work. Before coming to reviews for the album, NME report how the twenty-four-year-old is working on her fourth album (her third internationally):
“Zara Larsson has given an update on her third international album, telling NME that it’s “pretty much done”.
Speaking backstage at Mad Cool Festival 2022, the Swedish artist explained that she only had “some production stuff left” to take care of on the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Poster Girl’. “I shouldn’t say that [it’s almost done] because now people will expect [new music]; but it is,” she said. Watch our interview with Larsson above.
Having previously told fans that she was back in the studio writing on her third album following the release of ‘Poster Girl’, Larsson explained that she has worked on the majority of the record with Rick Nowels (Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa) “who is just a legend”, alongside super-producer Danja (Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake).
“The fact that I’m in the studio with them [and am] working with them long term, it’s something that I’ve appreciated a lot,” Larsson said of her collaborators. “I’ve been really lucky to be in the studio with great writers, but it’s been kind of like speed dating a little bit.” Working with just Nowels, for the most part, gave the sessions a new feeling. “It’s like ‘it’s you and me’; like ‘you’re looking into my eyes, and we’re writing this song’, which is great. I feel like it’s authentic and brings out something else.”
Larsson also said that sonically this album is “a little harder”. “The drums are a little harder, the vocals are vocalling a little bit more. I would just say I’ve been taking it up a notch, which is hopefully what I would like to do for every album, just step it up; but this one is really fucking good”.
Before coming to a couple of positive reviews, there were a few interviews conducted with Larsson around the release of Poster Girl. An exciting and important album from a rising artist, it was out at a time when the pandemic was still very much raging. It must have been quite an odd time to put out an album that had been brewing for quite some time. The Guardian chatted with Larsson about Poster Girl. We learn more about her upbringing and what Poster Girl represents:
“Larsson always knew she would be a star. Her parents – mother Agnetha is a nurse while her dad, Anders, was an officer in the navy – supported her early desire to perform, enrolling her in ballet lessons, but never expected she would be famous. A natural attention-seeker, Larsson would often perform a mini-concert at meal times, followed, at her dad’s behest, by the family debating the day’s big topics.“My dad thinks it’s important that everyone is heard, even if you don’t agree,” she says. “It gets scary when people are like: ‘This is the right opinion and if you have the wrong opinion you can’t say it.’” She pauses, something she does rarely. “I mean, in my opinion I’m always right.”
Beyoncé was an early musical idol and the pair met in 2013 after Larsson begged Beyoncé’s label to let her backstage after her concert in Stockholm. “I died,” she says. “When she came in the room I just laid on the floor and sobbed.” That one encounter was enough, however. “I’m not sure I want to meet her again,” she says. “I enjoy her being on a pedestal because she’s unreachable to me, like a mythical creature. I wouldn’t want her to be my friend … ” She roars with laughter at the audacity of the statement. “As if that would be an option!”
Poster Girl’s cover art, a neon pink fantasia featuring a bedroom wall covered in torn-out pictures, plays with this idea of Larsson as both the untouchable superstar idol and the everyday pop fan dreaming of stardom. “This is what I usually look like,” she says glancing at her dressing gown, “and I love that, but I also love the show. I love the glitter, the glamour, the lights, the big hair, and that’s also part of who I am.” Like Beyoncé, Larsson had been laser-focused in achieving her dreams. After she won Talang in 2008, she went to the US to take meetings with record labels. “I was like: ‘Boom, when are we doing the album? When are we shooting the videos?’ But I didn’t get signed and I was fucking devastated.” Two years later, still only 14, she signed her first deal – “I thought that was 14 years too late!” she laughs – and enjoyed homegrown success with her Sweden-only debut album, 1, an endearing collection of youthful pop that hinted at what was to come.
After Lush Life made her a superstar in 2016 (it currently sits on 945m global Spotify plays), Larsson found herself undermining her own success. “I’m a very dissatisfied person, which is a blessing and a curse; it makes me push for better things but it also means I can never be in the moment and enjoy something,” she says. “For example, I thought I’d be doing stadiums by now.” This constant strive for perfection can lead to second guessing, which is one of the reasons for Poster Girl’s protracted gestation.
Last year, Little Mix released Sweet Melody, a song Larsson had originally recorded for the album. Her frustrating flip-flopping on whether or not to keep it eventually saw its songwriters take it back and the song slip from her grasp. In January, it topped the UK chart. When I point out that Little Mix have blitzed through two albums in that same four-year timeframe, Larsson gets downcast for the first time in our interview. “It’s easy to sit and think: ‘Ah, fuck, I could have done more albums in this time,’ but it just didn’t feel right at that point,” she says.
Besides, Larsson doesn’t want to have the time to sit around debating people on Twitter all day. While she’s “super-proud” of Poster Girl, and teases a forthcoming deluxe version that may include a long-discussed Ariana Grande collaboration, she is also keen to move on. “Mentally, this album is something that I need to get over and done with, in a way,” she says. “It’s been around for such a long time and I feel a lot of pressure. I want to get it out there, have people say: ‘Yay, it’s good,’ and be like: ‘Phew, I’m back.’” In fact, she has already started recording the next one. “We’re on a roll, baby. I’m not stopping”.
I am going to round off with a couple of reviews. Despite the fact there was some mixed reception, for the most part there was acclaim for Larsson’s Poster Girl. I think this is an album that should be heard more and ranked alongside the best of 2021. Not fully embraced in the same way as Pop mainstream artists like Dua Lipa, her upcoming album should (I hope) change this. In their review, this is what AllMusic said about Poster Girl:
“Following an extended rollout that reached back to 2018, Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson returned in 2021 with her third solo effort, Poster Girl. A generous dose of buoyant dance pop, the set builds upon a formula similar to its 2017 predecessor, the chart-topping, multi-platinum international hit So Good, home to a quartet of Swedish number one singles. Here, she continues to dole out infectious R&B-influenced pop gems with ease, from the pulsing, string-backed "Love Me Land" -- an exuberant earworm that would make both Rihanna and Robyn proud -- to the sensual throbber "FFF," which falls somewhere between Kylie Minogue's Body Language and Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia. Other highlights include the sparkling summer jam "Need Someone," which packs piano twinkle and funky bass into a nostalgic disco throwback; the booming "WOW," a dramatic electronic journey courtesy of Marshmello; and the disco-kissed "Look What You've Done," a sonic sibling to Larsson's hit collaboration with Clean Bandit, "Symphony." That latter track recalls contemporary radio hits by Ava Max, while elsewhere the spirit of Ariana Grande slides up next to Larsson's Young Thug duet "Talk About Love" and album closer "What Happens Here." Tighter than So Good and packed with just as many catchy tunes, Poster Girl is yet another big step forward for the artist, adding a dozen fresh anthems to her catalog and maintaining her position as one of Sweden's finest pop exports”.
The second review that I want to include is from CLASH. They note how Larsson has been well-known since she was a child. Is it possible to have any mystery or hide anything when you have been famous for so many years? Maybe this is something that will be explored further. What I love is how upbeat and enriching Poster Girl is. CLASH also noted how uplifting Larsson’s 2021 album is:
“There’s scarcely been a time when Zara Larsson wasn’t famous. First reaching television screens in her native Sweden as a precocious 10 year old, it took second album ‘So Good’ to push her to an international level. Broadly speaking, she’s grown up in the public eye, yet she owns this – her mistakes are her mistakes, and her achievements are her achievements.
‘Poster Girl’ is her first full length project for four years, and it’s a work that strikes the balance between aesthetic evolution and retaining the playful pop element that has made her so successful. The arena-level production contains more than its fair share of fireworks, but there’s subtlety, too – not least of all in the lyrics, a non-gendered approach to love that works as an open-minded and future-facing gesture in its own right.
A relentless upbeat symphonic dance record, ‘Poster Girl’ writhes with energy. Matching potent Scandi-pop to pizzicato strings on lush opener ‘Love Me Land’, Zara then segues into her unexpected but actually-damn-good Young Thug hook up ‘Talk About Love’.
Indeed, matters of the heart dominate ‘Poster Girl’ – feelings are worn on the sleeve, and there’s a directness that moves from her vocals to the final master. ‘Need Someone’ opens with those delicate Nyman-esque piano trills, and it contrasts perfectly with summer-fresh pop monster ‘I’m Right Here’ and it’s stunning, colour-soaked chorus.
‘I Need Love’ is a muscular, arena-level bout of tropical pop, and it’s in-your-face approach leads into the multi-faceted ‘Look What You’ve Done’, and it’s intriguing use of vintage disco strings as a contrast to the nostalgic lyrical motif. A tale of love and loss, it’s one of the album’s most effective blends of light and shade, a supremely contoured Swedish pop construction.
But it’s not all colour and daring. ‘Stick With You’ charms with its guitar intro, while there’s a slight country twang to Zara Larsson’s vocal, as if she’s exploring the hitherto unclaimed Nordic roots of Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn.
‘FFF’ is playful but explicit, while mighty closing statement ‘What Happens Here’ is a punchy closer, a race to the finishing line that finds Zara Larsson operating at Olympic levels.
It’s not all perfect – no pop record that takes as much chances as this could ever hope to hit 10/10 home runs – but it’s certainly entertaining. Direct, up-front, and completely unabashed, ‘Poster Girl’ finds Zara Larsson living up to the fame that has surrounded her for more than a decade. Grappling with responsibilities towards fans and familiars, it’s a treatise on love, hurt, and self-growth, one that finds the Swedish icon revelling in an exuberant creativity.
8/10”.
An artist who is priming a new album for this year, Zara Larsson’s Poster Girl boasts terrific songs, great songwriting and production. At the centre is the incredible pull and potency of Larsson. She is such a captivating presence and wonderful artist! Poster Girl is an album that, whilst celebrated, was perhaps not as covered and acclaimed as it deserved. If you have not heard it for a long time – or not heard it at all -, then I would definitely suggest that you…
GIVE it a deeper listen.