The VICE Interview: Zara Larsson

Zara Larsson won the Swedish version of Britain's Got Talent when she was ten years old. Unlike literally every single UK winner, however, she's actually become wildly successful, with a load of tunes from her 2017 album So Good becoming chart staples.

Ahead of her gig in Shepherd's Bush last week, I sat on her hotel bed with her for a chat.

VICE: Who's more attractive, you or your partner?
Zara Larsson: My partner, 100 percent. No serious, he's gorgeous.

Is there anyone apart from your partner you'd be comfortable being naked around?
I'm really comfortable being naked all the time – it bothers some people that I'm so very free with my nakedness. My family are always saying, "Please can you put on some clothes before dinner?" I'm just comfortable with that and don't really care. I love going to a spa in Korea Town in LA; it's called Wi Spa and everyone's just naked and it's so good to see bodies chilling, relaxing.

When was the last time you said no at work?
I say no all the time. I get so many proposals about doing songs with people. No, no, no. I do say a lot of yeses too, because I'm just in the beginning of my career. I want things to feel authentic.

How do you think you'll die?
Well, hopefully not when I'm 27 of a drugs overdose. My dream would be to be about 90 years old, just to go to sleep forever.

Weeing in the shower – yes or no?
Yeah, who doesn't do that? I've also heard it's pretty hygienic, which makes sense because you'll be clean when you go out of there. I don't believe people who say they don't. It's weird if you don't. You're lying.

What would be your specialist subject on Mastermind?
That's hard, because I know so many facts no one needs to know. I'd pick Harry Potter. I really like The Half Blood Prince. That's my favourite book and film along with the first one – that makes me feel cozy.

What was your first email address?
It was zebra – because my name begins with a Z and I wanted to be an animal for some reason – underscore Adidas, which I can't really say because I'm a Nike girl now. But all the cool kids in my school wore Adidas tracksuits and I really wanted one so I had zebra_adidas@hotmail.com. It didn't make sense mixing the two, but I thought it did.

What was the last movie you watched?
I was with my boo thang and he said he hadn't seen Harry Potter, he hadn't seen Dead Poets Society, Shawshank Redemption, all the classics – so I was like [coughs loudly], "Ahem." So I think it was Shawshank Redemption.

Would you want to experience death if you could be brought back to life?
What's the point? I believe we all die and there's no afterlife. I think we're here for the right now and when we're not we're just gone. We're nowhere.

If you could live in any time, which would it be?
I would like to see the future, of course. But maybe if I lived in America in the 60s or 70s I could be part of a revolution. I feel like we're kinda revolutionary now; we're in a time where people really want to make a difference, and the situation and the state of the world, it's pretty rocky, and people come together even though so much shit is happening.

When do you dislike yourself most?
Probably in the morning because I'm so grumpy and everything is bad, everything is wrong and everything is ugly and, just no. You look in the mirror and you're like ugh.

Do you ever lie in interviews?
Not very often, actually. If I don't want to answer something I'd much rather say, "I'm not feeling that question."

Dogs or babies?
It was a long time ago that I saw a baby. I thought about that just now because I scrolled on Instagram and I saw DJ Khaled's cute son, Asahd. But babies are cute if you can hold them for a bit and give them back, so I'll say babies.

@ruchosharma

More VICE Interviews:

Debbie Harry

Maya Jama

Chrissie Hynde