Album Review: Zara Larsson – Poster Girl
2 min read
Despite only releasing two studio albums, Swedish sensation Zara Larsson feels like she has been the face of popular music forever. A pop star who dominated the later end of the 2010s and is set to continue her success in the 2020s and begins with her new album Poster Girl.
Opening track Love Me Land sounds bumpy and bouncy but fails to make much impact. Feature with rapper and hip-hop artist Young Thug is a corny but catchy combination. Third song Need Someone has a pleasant piano within its opening, these keys and chords provide the backbone of a pop track on the slower end of the Larrson spectrum.
Right Here is a charming blend of deep and distant house with a perplexing pop vocal. It is addictive, airy and full of charm. WOW is lustful with another prominent piano, and synth driven EDM bassline.
Title track Poster Girl is the album’s standout track as it describes. Lyrics tackling the struggles of fame, and romance; “I was focused on me, My own energy, Trying to negotiate the conflict in myself, It was all going fine, Till you changed my mind”. This is one of those pop songs which fixes itself on you, unable to stop listening and constantly on repeat. It has a subtle opening which subdues as Zara’s voice takes command. An instant classic and my favourite Larsson track to date.
Like any pop album laced with stretching and soothing vocals, the topics of romance and heartbreak are prominent throughout. The most explicit stories and lessons on this subject are in the following track I Need Love. This track most reminiscent of booming ballads, “Like the poison needs to kill, Like the body needs to feel, I need love”
Ruin My Life was one of the five tunes to have been released prior to the album in a packaged EP and is the one with the most traction and plays.
Poster Girl is a simple but effective pop album laced with Larsson magic. At the age of twenty three Zara Larsson is still young and full of energy and you can hear that throughout this record. With some more instrumental experimentation in future she has all the potential to become a genre defying pop star.
