Zara’s got it good and bad

Swedish pop sensation Zara reveals her joy at success is tempered by feelings of pain over the injustices suffered by women around the world

Zara Larsson, 19, has been a star in her native Sweden since she won her homeland’s Got Talent TV show age 10. Her dream of international fame first came good with the global smash Lush Life, then when she teamed with David Guetta for the Euro 16 theme This One’s For You.

And it was confirmed early this year with her Grammy Award for Best Artist. But she insists the accolade won’t go to her head.

“I don’t think I really need to keep myself grounded, I am just chilling,” she says. “For me, awards aren’t really that big of a deal. It’s just the icing on the cake.”

Beyonce remains the artist Zara most admires. When the pair met after a Beyonce show, the US singer recognised her as the girl who had been crying in the front row. “That was the time I first saw her live, and I just started crying for some reason. She is insane.

“All the albums she released, just got me so stoked. She had a video for pretty much every song on the B’day album, I would just sing along and dance. I just thought she was amazing, and ever since then my love for her just grew.”

Although the odds are stacked against her cuddly pop resulting in the storming of barricades, Zara believes her generation is set on revolution. “I’m really happy I was born now. I think our generation is the new revolutionary time. My parents were born in the Sixties, where there was lots of revolution and lots going on, but I feel like this revolution is different. We are less afraid, we are more educated and we know more about the world.” Larsson’s fearlessness has been revealed in her responses to misogynistic attitudes on social media and elsewhere. And she’s not likely to keep quiet about injustice anytime soon.

“I feel like the world just kind of hates women. Lots of people think you can’t have children and a career. You don’t get equal pay. “There’s a chance you might get abused or sexually harassed in your lifetime. It sucks.

“It doesn’t matter if you are a pop star or not, it’s just what life is. “It’s hard to be a woman and exist.”

’I feel the world just kind of hates women. There’s a chance you may get abused in your life.’

New album, So Good, is out now