Zara Larsson: Pop Girls, Confidence, & Crushes
Swedish pop star Zara Larsson joins Alex Cooper on Call Her Daddy to discuss her career resurgence with her album 'Midnight Sun,' her personal evolution as an artist and woman, and her long-term relationship. She reflects on a decade-long career, the challenges of the music industry for women, and how embracing authenticity and creative control transformed her public persona.
Summary
Zara Larsson opens the conversation by reflecting on her sudden surge in public attention, noting that while her internal daily life feels unchanged, the external metrics — likes, comments, and scrutiny — have intensified. She describes the emotional impact of watching Olympic skater Alyssa Lou perform to her song 'Stateside,' calling it a deeply joyful and personal moment, and revealed she later DM'd Alyssa to invite her to a show.
The conversation turns to the creative reinvention behind 'Midnight Sun,' including the viral 'dolphin trend' on TikTok — colorful, joyful dolphin videos paired with melancholy song lyrics — which she credits as a subconscious influence on her aesthetic. Zara explains that her 'mermaid Barbie' image, full of glitter, color, and spectacle, was always who she was, but she had suppressed it to fit Sweden's minimalist fashion culture. This album allowed her to fully embrace that side of herself.
Zara discusses her obsessive TikTok use — reportedly 16 hours of screen time per day — and how she actively engages with fan content of herself, something she previously avoided out of shame. She attributes this shift to gaining more creative control over her music, fashion, and performances, which makes her more comfortable seeing herself reflected back. She explains that early in her career, starting at age 14, she had little creative input and was surrounded by much older industry professionals, making it hard to express her own voice.
She candidly shares her history of self-searching for negative comments online, describing it as a form of false control that often confirmed her worst insecurities — particularly the lingering feeling that despite having hit songs, she couldn't bridge the gap between musical success and widespread personal recognition. She credits 'Midnight Sun' and the decision to share more of herself authentically as the turning point.
Zara recounts opening for Tate McRae's arena tour as a pivotal career moment, noting that it placed her in front of a new American audience right as her album dropped. She addresses the online discourse that pitted her against Tate, calling it a predictable but frustrating byproduct of how the industry and fans treat women in pop — always comparing rather than celebrating multiple talents simultaneously. She praises Tate's work ethic and the positive environment on tour.
On the topic of her song 'Girls Girl,' she reveals the real-life inspiration: at age 16, she drunkenly kissed her best friend's boyfriend at a New Year's party, was filmed without her knowledge, and was cut off by her entire friend group for four years. She frames this as one of her worst mistakes and uses it as a lens to examine what it means to be a 'girls girl' while also being human and flawed.
Zara discusses de-centering men from her life, noting she used to crave male validation heavily — linking it partly to her father being away often during childhood. She says she now focuses almost entirely on impressing young girls and women. She describes her current five-year relationship with her boyfriend as a friends-to-lovers evolution that grew slowly and naturally. She is candid about once developing a small crush on someone outside the relationship, which she and her boyfriend discussed openly and honestly, calling it a moment tied to her craving external validation rather than genuine attraction. She refers to that validation-seeking part of herself as 'the girl,' and says 'the girl is gone now.'
The interview closes with Zara teasing her upcoming deluxe album, which she says features multiple female collaborators and was inspired by Charli XCX's approach to reimagining an album's production. She expresses genuine disbelief at some of the collaborators involved, calling it a milestone moment in her career.
Key Insights
- Zara Larsson argues that her internal daily life has not changed despite increased fame, but the external microscope — the scale of scrutiny on her words and posts — has grown significantly.
- Larsson claims the viral TikTok 'dolphin trend,' which paired vivid colorful dolphin imagery with depressing song lyrics in an absurd juxtaposition, was subconsciously on her mood board and helped define the 'Midnight Sun' era's aesthetic.
- She contends that suppressing her love of glitter, color, and spectacle to fit Sweden's minimalist fashion culture had previously resulted in a 'weird style,' and that this album finally allowed her to fully express who she is visually.
- Larsson argues that gaining creative control — writing her own music, designing her outfits, shaping her shows — was the critical turning point in her self-confidence, because she no longer felt she was tending a garden someone else had planted.
- She claims that being signed at age 14 and surrounded exclusively by adults in their 40s in studio sessions made it emotionally difficult to contribute creatively, since there was no common reference point and she felt too small to assert her own voice.
- Larsson describes a pattern of searching for her own name online to find negative comments on bad days, framing this as a form of false control that often served to confirm pre-existing negative feelings about herself rather than inform them.
- She argues that being compared to and pitted against Tate McRae during her opening slot on Tate's tour is a predictable byproduct of how the industry treats women in pop — where it seems impossible for two talented women to coexist without one being diminished.
- Larsson states that the 'Girls Girl' song was inspired by a real incident at 16 where she drunkenly kissed her best friend's boyfriend, was filmed without consent, and was cut off by her entire friend group for four years — which she calls one of her worst mistakes.
- She claims that a small crush she developed while in her current relationship was less about the other person and more about her own craving for external validation — a part of herself she and her boyfriend openly discussed and that she calls 'the girl,' who she says is now gone.
- Larsson argues that her refusal to be mysterious — despite trying it as a career strategy — ultimately held her back, and that leaning into her natural openness and personality is what finally made her music connect with wider audiences.
- She states that surrounding herself with an all-women band and touring crew has created an environment where no one has to constantly prove their competence, which she contrasts with the typical industry dynamic where women work twice as hard for half the recognition.
- Larsson describes being inspired by Charli XCX's approach to her album to create a deluxe edition that reimagines the production of existing songs, giving unreleased versions a chance to be heard, and teases that the collaborators involved made her feel like a star for the first time.
Topics
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