Zara Larsson Gets Candid About Politics and Social Media

Zara Larsson Gets Candid About Politics and Social Media - Teen Vogue

Posted: 23 Oct 2019 05:17 AM PDT

Of course, I can't relate to everything she talks about because yeah, I'm a white girl from Sweden. But I just connect with her because what she's telling is empowering so many people like her. I would love to put some more [politics] into [my] art and make some fucking money off it, because that's the world we live in. She's definitely not the first political artist, but I definitely think she jumped on the conversation about it and because she's so influential, it's cool to talk about now.

TV: Being so outspoken on social media, I'm sure you're dealing with trolls all the time. That's a lot of emotional labor to take on.

ZL: It really is. I didn't even understand what it was for a long time. I used to write in Swedish and I had a very aggressive tone. I would just fight with all these middle-aged men every day, seriously. It made me so stressed out and I didn't even have time to reflect. I used to wake up in the middle of the night being really anxious, wondering what did people write, what did people say to me. It was just stressful. Now, when I write something on Instagram and stuff, you also realize at a point, I'm not mad at people not agreeing with me. I just feel bad for them because they're stupid.

TV: Can you still be so open online these days, or do you feel like you need to be a little bit more edited?

ZL: Yes and no. People in general, we're human beings, we're complex. I'm a walking paradox and sometimes I feel like a hypocrite. I'm in a gray space all the time. It is complicated and sometimes, I say this and then I change. Everything on the internet is so absolute and static while life isn't. Yeah, sometimes I'm like, "Maybe I should just not say that because maybe it could come back and bite me in five years." But it's weird that you have to think about that.

TV: Did you expect your condom-leg-gate to blow up like that?

ZL: No, I did not. But I'm happy it did because it was quite funny. That became such a big thing. Literally everyone wanted to talk to me about it. Hopefully, a picture of a condom leg doesn't get better than my song, but sometimes that happens. Isn't that what happened to Craig David?

TV: I'm asking so much about your relationship to social media because you're one of the first global pop stars of the social media generation and it allows you to sort of shape your identity and be really direct with your fans, honestly without the need for reporters like me.

ZL: I love that. I think it gives so much power back to the consumers and the artists. These days, you can really put music out or put anything out and connect with people directly. Radio's still important, especially in America, but in general, people listen to whatever the f*ck they want to listen to. I listen to Spotify, I don't turn on the radio and say, "Let me hear what songs to discover." I already do that on my phone or on SoundCloud, or I find my favorite YouTubers.

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Yu Tsai