Zara Larsson has come a great distance since her debut 2014 studio album, 1 — not solely personally, but in addition artistically.
That’s why her upcoming album Venus looks like a re-introduction. “This can be a very strong physique of labor that I’m very happy with,” she tells Billboard, noting that she isn’t confined by the concept of remaining in a single style. “I discover it actually exhausting to remain sonically in a single type of style. Although the album remains to be pop, it sounds a bit extra R&B-leaning and in addition has extra simply traditional pop jams. There are drum patterns and drum beats on some songs and there are additionally some lovely strings on a lot of the songs. So, whereas there are positively parts which tie it collectively, general, I might simply say the true thread all through the album is simply my voice and me telling a narrative relying on what I’m feeling proper now.”
In actual fact, vulnerability can also be a standard thread she’s exploring all through the undertaking, stepping confidently into her personal interior goddess by reflecting on who she actually is — therefore Venus being her first album launch underneath her personal Sommer Home label.
Take her musical reunion with David Guetta, “Oh My Love,” for instance. “Into the darkish, into the sunshine, child, I am going / Whether or not it’s incorrect, whether or not it’s proper, I’ll observe / I’ll pay the worth, I’ll sacrifice / That’s on my love,” she belts within the refrain, which represents a promise to her youthful sister Hanna Larsson that she’ll do something for her. “Typically you’re tremendous comfortable and nobody can cease you, after which different instances you’re like, I really feel so unhappy and I really feel so damaged. You simply undergo all of the feelings,” she says of being human, which is a principal theme of the album.
As for reuniting with Guetta seven years after their 2016 collaboration “This One’s For You,” Larsson says being within the studio with the beloved DJ and producer is like spending time with an “outdated buddy.” “I do actually love him,” she gushes. “He’s probably the most optimistic and superb people who I’ve met within the trade, and he’s at all times so excited for the stuff that he likes. I simply love the tune. I feel he’s so cool and I’m tremendous comfortable. It looks like a full circle second.”
Guetta isn’t the one trade veteran Larsson seems as much as, mentioning Tinashe, Victoria Monet and Troye Sivan as a few of her present inspirations. “They’ve by no means been cooler, and with each video and each tune, the picture they’re creating for themselves is getting clearer,” she says. “I simply adore it. So hopefully, with this album too, I’ll proceed to create extra of a world with my music.”
She plans to take action not solely along with her upcoming album, but in addition along with her UK and European tour, which is about to kick off February 16 in Manchester, England, and stretch throughout Europe earlier than wrapping up on March 16 in Reyjavik, Iceland.
“She’s positively extra dynamic than Poster Woman,” Larsson concludes of Venus. “She is extra courageous within the sense that she dares to be extra private and emotional, however she’s additionally only a bit extra private within the sassy, enjoyable means. Like she would say some s—, you realize? She’s extra playful, however on the identical time, extra sincere.”
Venus is out on February 9. Pre-order the album right here.