Zara Larsson’s So Good Is a Pure Pop Blast
(Not an album review, but something I'd like to write about her : )
From all her photoshoot and live performances, it is easy to tell that Zara Larsson is in the prime phase of her life. But one may fail to realize how young this 1997-born girl is. At the age of nineteen, Zara Larsson is striving for her own position in mainstream pop by offering her international debut So Good to the entire world. Fortunately, the album did not fail the task to match with the title, providing a pure pop blast for various cohorts.
Starting off her career by winning a Swedish talent show at ten years old, the Swedish singer was already a national sensation in her own country. However, once you look close into her and her music, the traces of influence from American pop culture appear evident. On her phone case, there is a sticker of Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj with whom she claims to be “best friend”. She has mentioned her worship towards Beyoncé in almost every interview, alongside the story of her crying the whole time when she first met the queen of pop. Her appreciation for Ty Dolla $ign, with whom she collaborated on the title track, could date all the way back to Ty’s mixtape Beach House when his mainstream success was still to boil up. “If the club doesn’t play hip-hop or R&B, I’m not going there”, she once confessed when asked about her preference for music in clubs. Even her casual discourse is marked with expressions like “Gurrrl” that is a highly-original piece of African American Vernacular Speech.
No doubt is her love for hip-hop and R&B projected on music. On the album title track So Good, a slick R&B-infused pop song featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Ms. Larsson grooves between a simple but classic bassline and drum beat. Her rap-singing On Ain’t My Fault, an electro-dance track with heavy trap beat, accurately reflects the current trend in American hip-hop. Surprisingly, on Only You, a reggae-based ballad, her vocal performance constantly resembles Riri in her pre-ANTi recordings. With flexible powerhouse vocals, she carves several R&B-infused track out for her debut album, absorbing the globalization of American, especially African American, pop music.
Besides, Zara managed to jump on the sweeping tide of reggae/dancehall revival, which is epitomized in Sun Down, a tropical anthem that adopts the production of Bieber’s Sorry and enlists Drake’s One Dance guest feature Wizkid. Other tropical moments include the Caribbean instrumentation on the chorus of Don't Let Me Be Yours, the reggae-infused Only You, and even the chorus of the dance track I Would Like that samples Sasha’s reggae-pop classic Dat Sexy Body. The intended chill and breeziness are successfully delivered by Zara owing to her up-lifting vocals.
Like other young artists who made their major debut this year (for instance, Khelani and Khalid), Zara has been building her stardom mainly through social media. In fact, she has earned herself a reputation of “man hater” solely caused by her feminism-related posts. She is indeed radical: pulling a condom up to her leg to satirize men who excuse not wearing condoms by claiming having too big penis, drawing a distinct line between Trump-supporters and herself, and arguing over supporting abortion, a still restricted issue in the US. All of this could partially result from her upbringing in a family that encourages debates and discussion on social issues. Musically, she cast a tinge of her feminism upon Make That Money Girl on which she explicitly endorsed all career women to make millions while enjoying life. However, Ms. Larsson never went further. Instead she chose to elicit her swaggering and unapologetic romanticism in the rest of the album. On Only You, the next single off the album, she refuses to take a shower to wash off the scent of the man with whom she just had sex. On the title track, she boasts about her high-quality love that will keep every man around. Even when she realizes that she falls for someone, she unapologetically states that it “ain’t my fault”. It is not unusual for a nineteen-year-old pop princess to express such intense sensual desire, but for Zara Larsson, one may wonder: “What about all your pro-feminism repertoire?” Is Zara Larsson still a feminist in her music?
First of all, Zara Larsson appears to be fully conscious of her madness for love. Her effortless recognition indicates no manipulation and control by her male counterparts. She is perfectly aware of her state of mind and determined to chase what her want. Feminism sometimes cannot reach out into a codependence romantic relationship if a woman is after her own game, nor could morality. In fact, being an outspoken young female for love is never a shame for feminism. Plus, Ms. Larsson splices the whole image with her swaggering badass alter ego. On the fragile ballad I Can't Fall In Love Without You, she ponders her own insecurities with a self-evident question “Don't you think I give a fuck? Give a fuck 'bout who you fuck?”.
My personal love for Zara Larsson probably originates from her resemblance to badgalriri. Not only do they share similar vocal performances, but they both never hold their realness to themselves. Zara Larsson knows how to keep it 1000% real at such a young age, swinging off all the fake asses and passing out her own wisdom of life.
