Zara Larsson Feels ‘So Comfortable Being Naked’ on New Venus Album Cover: ‘Quite Liberating’ (Exclusive)

Zara Larsson reveals everything on her new album.

On Friday, the Swedish pop star (26) released her fourth studio album Venuswhich finds her in a creatively free zone, singing about real-life experiences in the first full-length for her Sommer House label.

“When I got signed at 14, I was like, ‘Put me on the fucking stage. I don’t care. Just give me good songs, whatever.’ But now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I’ve also realized that it’s actually a lot more fun to be involved in what you’re doing,” Larsson tells PEOPLE. “It gives me more purpose.”

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Zara Larsson.

Jack Bridgland

The musician who became famous by winning the second season of the series Talang (Swedish version He has talent) in 2008 and scored global hits with songs like “Lush Life” and “Never Forget You,” crafted her new album with a small team of writers and producers — resulting in more realistic lyrics than ever before.

Venus is an extremely personal and passionate album, but not in a soulfully vulnerable sense. “Personal doesn’t always have to be sharing all the details about the fights you had with your parents growing up or this specific thing when someone broke my heart,” explains Larsson, noting that she wanted her “humor and personality” to shine through the project.

“I’m a person who has a very close relationship with laughter,” he jokes. “I’m a very frivolous person, so even just a little bit of that, I think elevated the songs.”

Larsson’s playfulness comes through in songs like “You Love Who You Love,” inspired by the painful experience of watching friends suffer through relationships with obscure men. “I’m pretty desperate. I’m just telling my friend, ‘Fuck you. What are you doing?’ And it’s a strong emotion,” she says. “It’s not necessarily super sad or what we would think an emotional song would be, but there’s a lot of passion in it.”

The album also includes “On My Love,” a collaboration with David Guetta that features heartfelt lyrics about Larsson’s close relationship with his sister Hanna. “One of my greatest loves in life is for my sister,” she says.

“When we were kids, of course, we fought, but we are very close. We share everything. We slept in the same bed every night. We moved in together, we still slept in the same bed,” adds Larsson of their sisterhood. “It was so sad when she moved out, because you realize, ‘I’m never going to live with my sister again.’ Our childhood and that period of our life is over. It’s a new chapter.”

Zara Larsson goes down Memory Lane with sister Hanna in sweet video for David Guetta’s ‘On My Love’ collaboration

“On My Love” also marks the reunion of Larsson and Guetta, who previously joined forces for the official UEFA Euro 2016 song “This One’s for You” — released while she and Hanna were living together at their parents’ house. Looking back on that time, she realizes how much her approach to celebrating has changed.

“I look back on it now and I’m like, ‘Girl, that was freaking huge.’ “It was at the very beginning when my career took off and I never felt like it was a big deal. Nothing is a big deal to me,” explains Larsson. “I say, ‘OK, what’s next? What’s next? What’s next?’ But I feel like I’m getting better at ‘Oh, have fun. Let me live in this for a moment.'”

Such changes in Larsson’s outlook and creative style partially inspired the title Venus. “On the album cover I’m channeling the birth of Venus and it feels like my rebirth in a way,” she says. “I feel like I’m coming back to myself in terms of just doing whatever I want musically and in my personal life. I feel very happy and very much like myself.”

Zara Larsson.

Paul Edwards

The album cover wasn’t always a revealing photo of a naked Larsson with long, flowing blonde locks covering her breasts and a shell over her bottom. Actually, Venus she initially had a different title and artwork – but after finishing the album, she went back to the drawing board.

“I just called my friend and said, ‘We’re going to shoot on Wednesday. Don’t tell the publisher. I’ll pay for it and let’s just do it,'” she recalls. “I think it turned out pretty nice.”

Taking off for the album cover didn’t sit well with Larsson, who is in a relationship with dancer Lamina Holmén. She frequents nude Korean spas and was often reprimanded as a child for refusing to wear a shirt at family dinners.

“Honestly, I’m so comfortable being naked,” she says. “It’s just not my thing. And while I think the album is pretty sexy, there’s something pretty liberating about being naked.”

Zara Larsson. Jack Bridgland

The only downside to the album’s risque cover art? There is a high probability that it will be heavily censored in certain areas. “I wonder what that cover will look like in the Middle East,” jokes Larsson. “It would just be a very nice beige shell wall.”

Larsson is proud Venus and she’s excited to see fans’ reactions — more than she’s worried about how she’ll do on the charts, another indication of her personal evolution. “I still want to be number one. Don’t get me wrong, I still have that ambition,” she says. “But I would say I feel a lot more confident.”

“Once it comes out, it’s just like [when] you send your children to college. You don’t know what he’s up to. Do you want to study? Are you going to party all year? I don’t know,” adds Larsson. “I just wish you the best and I hope people treat you well.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education