Album Review: Zara Larsson – So Good
2 min read
Sweden has produced some of the world’s most iconic pop acts and song writers like ABBA, Roxette and Max Martin. Their sound and style is so quintessentially pop that the likes of Katy Perry went all the way out to Stockholm to work on her critically acclaimed album Prism to capture some of that magic. Zara Larsson, the latest shining star teen pop export from our friends in the north, has risen to international stardom with chart blazing tracks as Lush Life and Never Forget You as well as being featured on David Guetta’s This One’s For You– the official track for the UEFA European Championship 2016.
In 2017, Larsson released her debut international album So Good, and she has unquestionably made an impression with an impressive singles chart track record. Fusing elements of EDM, hip hop, R&B and Baroque Pop, So Good is the bubblegum pop hit album from the bubblegum ‘it’ girl. It touches on all the topics her teenage fan base would find enticing and features the best artist of the ‘now’ such as Ty Dolla $ign, MNEK and Clean Bandit, with whom she collaborated on the emotive and powerful Symphony, a personal favourite.
So Good demonstrates Larsson’s range in her ability to passionately deliver a ballad as in I Can’t Fall In Love Without You, get a party started in her club banger I Would Like and convincingly sing a raunchier number as in Ain’t My Fault. There is no doubt that she’s a talented vocalist, but at times the track style and production sounds like a reworked and repackaged version of hip hop and R&B hits with a precious pop twist. As her debut album, So Good does a great job of getting people’s attention and building up an international fan base that can grow with her music. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but So Good is so good and I am keen to hear what direction Zara Larsson’s music takes next.
