Love Lives - Singer Zara Larsson on being in the 'power of wanting to do it for yourself'

Episode Date: August 31, 2023

Swedish pop sensation Zara Larsson joins us on Love Lives to discuss fame and how blogging from a young age in Sweden has helped her feel comfortable speaking her mind and taking ownership of her work in the relentless and unforgiving music industry. Zara speaks about how she collaborates in the studio, how she came to the public's attention at a young age and how one form of transport has stolen her heart. Catch Love Lives on Independent TV and YouTube, as well as all major social and podcast platforms.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/millenniallove. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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CBC News. Before my singing career really took off, I was just having a blog like every other girl did, at least in Sweden. Everybody had a blog. Really? What kind of things did you put on the blog? It was like the OG Instagram. It was just like, hey, like, chilling. And then you would write a

little like, I was at an interview, podcast today, it was great. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. You know, like a Facebook mom. Yeah. Huge, long captions and a lot of pictures. Long caps and line makers. Hello and welcome to Love Lives, a podcast from The Independent where I, Olivia Petter, will be speaking to different guests about the different loves of their lives, the stories behind them, and what that love has taught them about themselves and their place in the world. Today, I am honoured to be joined by the brilliant Zara Larsson. She is one of the biggest pop stars working today.

She is known for her energising pop anthems and record-breaking hits like Never Forget You and Lush Life. She has been nominated for Brits and MTV EMAs and has just released her latest single, End of Time. She was recently described as entering her icon era by Vogue Scandinavia. All this and she is just 25. I cannot wait to talk to her all about her career so far, her music and the different loves of her life. So, hello Zara. Hi.

Thank you so much for joining me. It's honestly like rattling off all the things you've done. It's crazy to think that... It's a good intro. Thank you. Like I said in the intro, you kind of just released your latest single, End of Time. I know that the music video for this one was really special for you and it kind of took you a while to write this song. And in the video, we kind of see you with this small blonde girl who looks like a younger version of you and what

looks like a somewhat unstable home life but I know that the song is about kind of visiting your younger self as an adult and all of the things that you would kind of talk to them about. Tell us why this song is so important to you and you know what your vision was for that special video. So first of all I want to start off by saying I unfortunately didn't write the song. I worked with Rick Knowles a lot on this album and Casey Smith, who wrote the song. So we have a few songs coming out together. But the one day that I wasn't in the studio, they were just in there together, them two. And when I got back, they were like, we want to play you a song. And it was End of Time.

And I think the song in itself is just a very passionate love song which is about loving someone until the end of time quite dramatic and because I wasn't I still want to be a part of creating my story in a way so I don't always write my songs I try to I think it's really fun but everything is so visual these days as well so because I didn't write the song I really wanted to write the story of the video and the visual the visual story and I just figured instead of having you know me and like a boy and we would love each other you know I wanted to do something else and I wanted to have um I wanted to portray one of the strongest loves in my life which is the love for performing and singing and dancing and I've just always felt that in me since I was I mean I can't even remember since I was so young and just portraying me

in my bedroom kind of escaping everyday life just being in my own world in front of the mirror and imagining and visualizing being on stage as I would grow older it would just be all all of my days would consist of that so um that's kind of the story of the video a younger version of me or just a younger girl having big dreams kind of living the life we wanted to portray like kind of a family home which isn't perfect because i don't think any family is perfect but i didn't want it to be too sad but I wanted it to feel relatable and you know just something that I felt growing up so it felt it felt like a really nice story and I'm happy we went that way because performing is definitely one of my biggest loves in life and because of the message of the song in the video

like going back to your younger self and kind of or just you know anyone's younger self and telling telling a young child you know I don't know giving them some sort of thing to cling on to when things are difficult at home or wherever do you do you have any idea what you would want to say to your younger self maybe before you kind of entered this industry? Because I know you were so young. Yeah. But if you could go back now and kind of say something to that like pre, you know, professional musician you as a kid, what would you say? Honestly, I don't know if I have anything to say.

I was so strong and confident as a kid. I just knew exactly what I wanted to do. Nobody could tell me otherwise. And sometimes I feel, you know, my grandma, she passed away not too long ago, and we were looking at her stuff that she had in her house. She's now cleaning out her apartment. And she had these photo albums, but they were just filled with cut outs from like interviews that i had done which is so cute because these days like i wouldn't do that if i would save an interview maybe you print screen yeah you just have it in your phone but she you know she's old school so she cut out every single interview or every single picture that

she ever saw of me in a magazine and uh it could be a good article or a bad article, but she would save everything. And as I was, you know, flipping through those pages and just looking at myself and seeing an interview from me being 14 or 15 when I was just releasing my first original song, I felt like, I felt inspired by myself, by the younger version of me because everything was so clear it was just so obvious that i had this one thing that i wanted to do and um i wasn't gonna let anybody tell me otherwise and sometimes now when I'm 25 I can feel myself more not doubting but you know you realize

that life life is hard and tricky and it's not black and white and when you're young you have your whole life in front of you and I still got time I know that but it's different like feeling you know I'm grown like I have responsibilities I have like like I gotta take care of myself but I don't know if I have anything to say to my younger self more than go girl you know um it's so sweet to hear you talk like that because I think it's so rare that we get to hear that insight into that total kind of blind optimism we all kind of have as kids. It's like, you know, we're growing up and like, I want to be a pop star. But like you actually went and did it so, so young. So I want to kind of go back a bit and ask you how you made it happen, how you got into this industry. I mentioned you started when you were like 10 because you won a

talent contest in Sweden, but tell us about that and, and how that kind of, you know, in Sweden but tell us about that and and how that kind of you know kick-started everything else. Yeah I mean actually as we're speaking today I just saw a tweet saying like it was 15 years ago that she won you know yeah somebody tagged me on Twitter and I was like that is insane like 15 years ago time flies so I kind of started my career I guess you would say on that show like Sweetest Got Talent um and I was so excited to just be an artist you know but as we all know winning a competition like that doesn't necessarily guarantee you anything yeah it's just a show really it's just like good tv and then the next year there's a new winner and then the year after that there's a new winner so but i walked in and i was like okay boom it's happening you know and after that i won which was so exciting and so amazing i was ready to like get to work

and nobody wanted to sign me i went to all the record labels and they were like, you're too young. I mean, you were 11, right? Yeah. Which makes sense now. But I was stressing and I was so sad and I was like, my career is over. I'm never going to be anything. I feel like I was more stressed back then than I am now. Because I just wanted to like travel places, be on stage that's where my true love sat like be on stage entertain people see them have a good time um and all of that so

it was very stressful for me but then at 14 I got signed um I think I don't know if the talent show actually helped me out per se but i guess life is a chain of events so me and my mom actually went and watched the swedish idol competition so we were in the crowd and then during the commercial breaks you could go up to the judges and like get their autographs so we did that and then my mom was like do do you recognize her? Do you recognize this girl? And I was like, shut up, mom. And one of the judges, Laila Baghez, she was like, yeah, of course I know you. I think you're amazing. You're so talented.

And then my mom was like, can we get your email or something? And she gave out her email. So we emailed her. And we didn't really think she was going to reply back. But she actually did. And she worked with me for a year. She was actually the one who took me and saw records because I didn't have any contacts to like my family's in the music at all. I didn't grow up like in a musical family or people with connections.

So it was basically my mom who was just being a little cheeky at this you know commercial break and in the live studio and we emailed her she got back to us and she introduced me to my label 10 in sweden which was an independent kind of small label and they took me on at 13. still very you know they were like oh you're very young but we could work for you. We could work with you. And then at 15, I released my first song and it went so well. And I think it was on cover, it's called, and it was just released in Sweden first. And then it just kind of organically traveled down in Europe. And I just remember posting the video for it on YouTube, which was kind of like a one shot. Camera was still. I was just singing into the mic in the studio like budget was zero. And it just kind of took off. And I think it was before YouTube had those algorithms and stuff.

So whatever was kind of trending was on this like start page you know and um and then it took off on the radio and I think I was just really really lucky like it was just happening the right thing was happening at the right time for me at that moment um because I could have posted and just had like 43 views yeah my family and my friends but something happened there and it was obviously like a beautiful song um I didn't write that but it was the first song that I heard that I was like oh yeah I'm putting this out and I also knew I'm very thankful for 10 working with them because they really listened to me um it had drums in the beginning it's a completely different song and I was like let's take out the drums I just want this to be a ballad which is kind of different

from what I do today like if you've heard my music you probably wouldn't think of like oh the ballad girl but you know I started out really just take out the drums they were like no we can't do this um no one's releasing songs without any drums. And I was just like, well, that's how I want it, you know? So we just kind of did it and it went really well. So I think luck combined with having people that I worked with that were listening to me. Because at the end of the day as well like if I did release it and it didn't do well I always say this but if you do something you are happy

about and proud of you can't really lose yeah I think anything with anything creativity based I think you have to just ultimately let the universe take control of the success of it and just think as long as I feel proud of this then like you said then it's then it's a success if you release something that you don't like and then if it goes well oh I always knew I love that song but if it doesn't yeah then it's like flop like you know what I mean that you feel terrible but I've been really I'm so happy that they were always like hearing me out listening to me because I've heard some nightmare stories about record labels just trying to really shape a person into what they're not. But even being so young, and then through TEN, the label in Sweden, the record company,

they licensed the music to Sony worldwide. So I got signed to Epic, and I was thrown in rooms with like amazing writers, amazing stylists, amazing choreographers, amazing, everyone was so professional. And like- And you're still a teenager. writers, amazing stylists, amazing choreographers, amazing. Everyone was so professional. And you're still a teenager. Still a teenager.

Yeah, like 15, 16 at this point. So maybe 17. And it wasn't like they were, again, like everything just became so much bigger at this point. So it was this, not this familiar, like family style, you know, independent label. It was like a big machine and um I don't think they were trying to change me I I think they were just genuinely trying to help me but when you are being put in like a room with let's say like five writers who all have

number ones it just made me feel like what can I say that will be better than anything you say like I like I don't like oh I became a little intimidated and um it was just kind of hard for me to like it was harder for me to think what what do I like what do I like because I trust you guys so if you say this is like amazing then it probably like you know what I mean yeah I do I think I think it's the antithesis of what this all starts out as right because like I think with any creative exercise that you do whether it's you know songwriting novel writing you know screenwriting, it starts off as a creative endeavor, something that is true to you.

But then the further along you get and the more success you get, the more you're constantly reminded that this is a business. This is like a commercial enterprise. And you will have all these people in big rooms kind of telling you, well, this is what's going to make you money. And this is, and it's like, but that's not what I started to do this for. So I think it's probably quite hard to reconcile those two things particularly when you're so young totally and I do want success and I wanted success and um I have always had huge respect for like authorities or just older people

especially always being the youngest person in the room which is no longer true in every scenario because sometimes I walk in and I'm like oh I would love to write with this person I just think they're amazing and then I'm like they're fucking 18 like you know what I mean it's so wild but growing up was just always like the baby um but yeah it was it was just it but again I think I had um I was still I was still with 10 and they would always back me up. They would always be like, whatever you want to do. And I think that was really, really important for me. Because I didn't start off writing. My love is performing. But then after a while, I just figured like, of course, I want to be part of that process too.

But now I've also gotten to the point where now I've done it for a few years. And I've just realized that I don't work well with 10 people in the room. And I don't care how many hits you have. I want to sit with somebody that I feel really comfortable with, comfortable that I could share my thoughts and ideas. And, you know, I don't want it to be more than two people. You know, I don't want it to be more than two people. It sounds like you had such a strong sense of yourself, which I think is so important when you're kind of thrust into those environments as a young girl, as a teenage woman, as a teenage girl in particular.

Did you... I know you kind of said that you didn't really have anyone trying to kind of morph you into a version of yourself that you weren't. But were there ever any people you encountered, because it's so common in the industry, or at least it used to be, for women to be kind of subjected to so much criticism and sort of manipulation about like their appearance and what they wear and all that kind of stuff. They were trying. I think if I was not backed up by my Swedish record company, it would have been a completely different story. And again, I think these companies,

they're not going out of their way to like purposely be mean. They just want to make money. Like they, and then, and that's like kind of, maybe they sometimes could be mean, but they're not doing it for the purpose of being mean. You know what I mean? But I think I definitely had to really put my foot down in certain situations. And it's certain things have been very uncomfortable. But then it has been very nice to like look to my right or look to my left and see like you guys got me. Because if I didn't have that and if my mom, like my mom was in the room with me all the time, like wherever I went.

wherever I went. And she just, not recently, but when I turned like 21-ish, she kind of backed off a little bit. But I always have someone around me, even in sessions, unless I know the person very well. Because I have been in enough situations where I'm like, I'm really not comfortable right now. And you're telling me things that I should do or shouldn't do, or it's just straight up very inappropriate. Or I think a lot of people who have power in the industry, they know they do. They know they have power. And a lot of people abuse that. And I think that's what kind of turns them on.

Not necessarily because they really want to sleep with you. They just want to, they just want you to know that I have the power to make you uncomfortable right now. And that's what I'm going to do. You know what I mean? Do you still, I mean, because I, you know, when I, when I talk to anyone in the public eye in any way who started out very young as a woman like whether they are an artist or a model or you know it's like the gears kind of change when you get very commercially successful and very kind of and you know very famous but when you're younger it's like people think that they can still kind of exploit you and take advantage of you and you hear these stories in the music industry all the time.

Does that still happen? Did you notice a time when that kind of stopped happening? And have you ever been like, you know, you said you've experienced like people saying inappropriate things and making you feel really uncomfortable. Have you ever kind of gone to the next step of like reporting behavior or like complaining in any kind of formal way no but it's so fucked up that some of the things that have happened have been so obvious and it has happened like in front of other people and what kind of thing like we could like be sitting at a dinner yeah and there's all these

people that i know and that everybody knows. And then it could be like, you know, somebody's putting a hand on my thigh or saying like, like, I'm going to come to your hotel room and I'm going to do like getting like way too close and personal, keep touching. And it's like, you all see this, like this is happening right in front of you guys but no one says anything because it's not to the point where if i would have gone to the police i said what yeah yeah it's not illegal it's not criminal but those like minor things when you stack them on top of each other and it like happens and it's just it's just casual you

know it's not that deep which is what they would say you know what I mean so it's all these like very gray scale or if you're in the studio with people and it's like you and one other person it feels like whoa you know like something could really happen here um you know I've never reported anything and I feel like that's they know that you can't and um yeah if I didn't have there's certain people I know like I would never be alone with you like I just know I would never be in a room alone with you and that's what I'm saying there's certain people that other people say don't be alone and yeah I just know like I just know the vibe and I would just always bring my manager I I would always have my mom, like, I would have somebody there to make sure that I'm safe. Because for a lot of, and I'm lucky enough that I've been able to have that because a lot of people, you know, they travel far. And you end up in a room and you just want to make your dreams come true and you do whatever it takes and then you're like put in this uncomfortable situation and sometimes they make you feel like

well if you want it yeah you know what i mean so it's crazy to think that it sounds like such a cliche for lack of a better word of course it happens it does it does happen and i think um i think it's obviously not restricted to the music industry i think this happens everywhere for for a lot of women um but it definitely is is sad because you are just playing with somebody's dream and and and they're like in tech don't know. It's a very strange industry and world for sure. And especially, I wouldn't really say I've gotten to the point where people wouldn't try me. I think it actually changed starting in the industry so young. I think I felt such a shift from when I was 17 to 18 because now I'm legal you know yeah which is so creepy but

that almost invited other yeah which is like you're you're a fucking old man like why are you even looking at me like that but I really felt a shift as turning 18 it was like whoa. But now I've just made my circle smaller. And I know that there's, of course, amazing people in the industry, too. And great people to work with. But just for my own kind of protection and my own peace, I just want to keep it small. Making an album, it's been really nice to have a small group of people that I've been writing most of it with and it's also nice because the more you work with somebody then the the closer you can get to them and the more comfortable

you are the more you can share and make it just more authentic. I wanna ask about one of your other recent singles, "'Can't Tame Her," because it's kind of alluding to what we've been talking about, the lyrics are like, you can't tie her down, you can't change her. And I think it reflects how outspoken you've been throughout your career and how,

like I said, like self-assured you are. And you have spoken out about issues in the music industry and, you know, political issues. And a lot of musicians don't do that because, you know, fear of retribution or whatever or alienating fans. What is it that makes you feel compelled to speak out against something? And is there anything in particular that like one issue that you feel gets you particularly kind of riled up in a way and you think this is something I should use my platform to talk about well I've just always been a very opinionated person and um before my like singing career really took off I was just having a blog like every other girl did at least in Sweden everybody had a blog really like everything on the blog it was

like the og instagram it was just like hey like chilling and then you would write a little like i was at an interview podcast today it was great blah blah blah blah blah just you know yeah yeah like a facebook mom yeah huge long caption and a lot of pictures so um I would have that and then as I would grow older from being you know 13 to maybe 16 like a lot of stuff was happening in me internally and externally I realized like oh wow the world is like unequal it never really dawned on me because I was never thinking about that stuff I was just like a kid and then I grew up I changed school I went to the Royal Swedish Ballet school before which was just run by girls was majority girls so we were just having this sisterhood kind of vibe

and then changed school it was so different. And I just realized that feminism is so necessary and important. And I think I got really sucked into it by these amazing writers in Sweden, specifically one person who's extremely radical. And she was just saying like, I hate men. And I was like, hell yeah. Because as I was starting to talk more about the importance of equality and, you know, my new thoughts that I had just found, as I was talking about that on my blog, I got a lot of negative

comments towards that. And they would usually come from men. And I would just be like, why are you so, I don't know, like mad about that? Why are you mad at me for saying that it exists rather than, you know, helping me and other women work towards it not existing? work towards and not existing um and that would just kind of fuel the fire to to what I was feeling because I think also being a teenager everything's very black and white you have these strong emotions you are finding yourself you're finding your um kind of purpose in a way but also your belief system is really being molded and I just found found my voice in a lot of strong people on social media and I think usually what I was writing about and how I feel is very reactionary so it wouldn't be just out of nowhere. It would be to a response on a comment from a man. Or it would be, you know, I mean, people are saying this now,

but it really wasn't like a mainstream thing. I think when men hate women, they beat us, they murder us, they rape us. And when women hate men, it's just a reaction saying, I hate that you are doing this to us yeah I think it's it's it's interesting because to some people it does seem really black and white and really simplistic but there is a truth in it and I think the truth in it is like you said it's it's the rage and the the rage at the injustice of all of the things because it's hard to it's hard to to swallow that.

Like, it made me, I was an angry teenager. And that made me so mad to realize how the world looks and how the world functions. And the fact that, you know, I just saw in the taxi on the way here, this woman being stabbed to death in India. And it's all these guys just around watching it happen. And it just made me so mad. But really what it makes me is it makes me sad. It is so sad. But that emotion is like,

it's too hard to walk around with all the time. So to really make something happen, I think anger is more of a emotion to get things going to, it's more of a, you know, let's get to action. If I would just walk around thinking about all the terrible things that are happening to women and be sad, I don't even know if I could get out of bed. Like it's really, it's just tragic. So it fueled like an anger in me and I just wanted to do something about it and I wanted to create like a debate or a discussion actually no I that was never my goal it just became a discussion and a topic and for a long time people were talking way more about

what I was saying um on my blog than about my music um but that was just how I felt and I think now I don't have my blog anymore and I'm still standing very strong in my opinions and obviously it's like I don't hate all men but like I I hate the patriarchy and I hate what it does to the world and all of that but um I'm very proud and I'm I'm I'm looking back like I was looking through the the photo album that my grandma had I'm looking back at it and I'm like I was just how how could I be so strong because now now when I see like stuff on Twitter and people just like argue with me I have no I have no i have no energy there's no point either because it's just there are people on there that just want to fight and they're just looking for someone yeah they're really angry they're really sad they're really lonely they're looking for

that channel and someone to kind of project all their stuff onto and all you're going to do by engaging is just feeding their own misery yeah and then and then subsequently your own because like i would wake up in the middle of the night for a long time and just like be so anxious and like what have people what are they writing to me because they were they were like oh it was really tough at one point and the majority of these men that were just hating me were like older than my dad and I'm like why are you how can you be so bothered by a teenager it's it blows my mind um but it just it kind of proves my point that it's like wow you really you just hate a girl who has a voice and who are is expressing herself um but like you say especially

on the internet it's just really hard to have a nuanced debate I feel like it's kind of impossible I think it is kind of impossible unfortunately it would be so much better if we could have a nuanced debate but it just that doesn't lend itself to internet culture you know but you know look at something like TikTok which is you know the most popular kind of social channel at the moment it's all about that like quick instant like 10 second videos that's like you can't have a political debate in 10 seconds you can't make a complicated point in 10 seconds totally totally it's tricky but i am applauding and i am just you know and all the people who are still having that energy and I really want to thank like a lot of people who had my back during that

time in my life because it was really it felt like yeah it was it was hard and I don't think I realized how hard it was since I was in it but then when I got out of it and I started to like, okay, like I'm not going to write on my body. And it wasn't an active choice. It was just, I just stopped updating, literally updating, literally updating. And then it just phased out. And now I look back at that time

and I'm like, how did I even have the strength to just do that? I don't know. When was it that you put it to one side? Kind of like 20. Yeah. And the people, the OGs, people who know me, especially in Sweden, like they know me, they know what I think about things. And I'm still firm in my opinions and beliefs. Well, you are. I mean, the next thing I was going to ask you about, because I think it reflects the choices you made in your career, was that you recently did a deal with Sony and your own label

to kind of own all of your own music yeah and when I read that it reminded me of what Taylor Swift did when she kind of tried to buy back all of her stuff and is now re-releasing her albums I think to someone outside of the industry people would be like wait why don't you own all your own music already and also why is it so important as a woman in this industry to own your music yeah I mean that's a great question why does an artist own their music and it's so sad and I think uh the Taylor Swift situation is really what inspired you so I was talking about 10 earlier and they the the guy who owned the company oh la he wanted to sell it and he called me I was the first person he called to ask are you interested in buying your masters owning your music and I said of course I am and not a lot of people get that

opportunity and if he wasn't up for selling it you know it would still be it wouldn't be mine right now um but it's it's such a weird thing that you make this music and you sing on these songs and you make this art and it's still not really yours to have control over because he had just seen what happened with Taylor Swift and he was just mortified and felt like I don't want that to be a thing and I'd rather go out being a nice person because he got money like Like, he's fine. A lot of people are just, they're just greedy. And sometimes people sell to investment capital companies and people who are not interested in music at all. But it's just like, it's like buying a stock. But then you're also buying somebody's whole life.

And all the time and energy they put into that. So he was just like, I never want the Taylor Swift thing to be a thing. Do you want it? And I said, absolutely, I do. Thank you so much. And I wish that could happen for more artists, of course. And I think even for the songs that I didn't write, like End of Time or even Lush Alive,

I didn't write that track, but I just, I loved it. And it's such a part of my identity as an artist. And that song is me. You know what I mean? That song is like one of the biggest things that have happened to me in my life. So the fact that I have control over it and no one can kind of take it away from me or the company, a record company can say oh well well we're just gonna this person wants to like drake calls out he's like i want to send a lush

life that's still like my work but i wouldn't get a dime from that because i wasn't creating it but now i feel like i have it in my home i have it in mine, and it's my baby, and I can take care of it, and I can kind of have control and power over what I want my music to be like or go towards, or if it's in a movie, if it's in this, because that song is me. It's like an extension of me as an artist. So I'm just really happy that I got that opportunity. And I just feel like a powerful businesswoman yeah but it is it is it's a powerful business decision and it's crazy that that isn't the norm that people you know these huge stars release their songs and they have no control over where they go or how they're used yeah it's bizarre um god there's so much else i want to ask you um okay one more thing before we

move on to your to your loves um in an interview with british vogue you were asked to cite one of your favorite quotes and you gave this one from lady gaga which i'm going to read some women choose to follow men and some women choose to follow their dreams if you're wondering which way to go remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn't love you anymore. Yeah. Such a great quote. Why did you choose that? I just think it's so good.

I don't feel like it needs much. It doesn't need an explanation. It's very straight on. But I think for a lot of women, a lot of young girls out there, the biggest thing should be to follow your goals and dreams and what you want to do in life and how you want to live your life i think to cater to a man is a little dangerous and you never know where you're going to end up i think to just have it going for yourself and to live life in your true purpose and then if you a man comes along amazing good for you whoever comes along whoever you want to date good for you but it's so unpredictable

isn't it and um it can happen without you realizing that you're doing it because it's what we're kind of socially conditioned to do and i feel like totally and I feel like for a lot of people these days, sometimes I see on TikTok, like, how to, I don't know what's up with my algorithm, but it's like, you know, the lady, oh, what's in it? Sprinkle, sprinkle. It's like, how to date a rich man. Sprinkle, sprinkle. And I'm like, interesting, because in a way, I see this new wave of young girls wanting to like well i'm just i'm

a girl i'm amazing and i should be treated as a princess and i'm like yes you should queen but also you should be in the power of of of wanting to do that for yourself because if you depend on somebody else to do that for you then then again, it's just very unpredictable and you just never know where you're going to end up. But I think the generations before us who were very dependent on a man working, a man making the money, bringing home the bread, basically, it didn't give women any opportunities to do anything with their lives. And then if you're in a relationship and you are dependent on that person,

then they can kind of have, they have a lot of power over you. I mean, just to have economic power over someone can be really an easy way into economic abuse and like well you can't do this because I'm the one making the money or well I don't want to spend it on that because I'm the one you know what I mean I think to have control over your own life is so important um and for a lot of women they can't even like afford to really get a divorce if they're not happy or it doesn't even have to be as dramatic as being in an abusive relationship

it could just be a simple fact that i'm not happy this is not what i want for myself and then you're sitting there thinking well what can i do you know i i don't have a job where I took care of the kids and now I'm kind of stuck and I have a lot of people you know I'm just looking at my my my family like a standard family and I see I think there's some women in there who would have benefited from not being in relationships but they just couldn't leave because where would they live literally and then um yeah your career just can't leave you you can always leave your career you can always change your mind and live a million lives is that if that's what you want but then it would be up to you yeah i think that's the most important thing okay Okay, let's move on to the loves of your life.

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are burning. Be the first to know what's going on and what that means for you and for Canadians. This situation has changed very quickly. Helping make sense of the world when it matters most. Stay in the know. CBC News. So your first love, I don't think we've had a mode of transport before. your first love i don't think we've had a mode of transport before um tell us why you've chosen this what i think this is the best invention like i remember where i was in life when i saw this for the first time i was in paris and i just could not believe my eyes i felt like a child in a candy store it's these um electrical scooters that are all over the city. I don't know.

They're a little restricted here in London. But where I live in Stockholm, you can kind of take them anywhere. Really? Yeah. It's just so convenient. And it's so fun. And it's quick. It's just, honestly, it brings me so much joy to be standing on an

electrical scooter on a sunny day and just going somewhere like i love to go somewhere yeah i love to be in the car on the way to something or i love to be on the plane like the feeling of of the feeling of just like going somewhere is really exciting to me and then to do that on a scooter come on like what's not to love it's easier than a bike yeah you just stand there I love that I don't have to be responsible for it when I'm done I'll just park it in its place and I'll just leave it there and um I think it's absolutely excellent and I think it works extra well in Stockholm because it's a city built for bikes yeah so I was gonna say because you have cycle lanes and all that kind of stuff so it's safe it's very safe yeah because in London it's a little bit more complicated yeah and there's a

lot more people here and there's a lot of small roads and, you know, those alleys and all of that. But in Stockholm, it's just perfection. And what do you make of public transport? Do you avoid it if you can? Yeah. I get really anxious on the train and the tube. Like in London, for example, whenever the tube stops in between stations which it does all the time but every time it does I'm like I'm never getting off oh no this is it and then I do

that for about 20 seconds and then it stops moving again I'm like I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine and then if it stops again like oh my god this is it this is it this is it no I think oh no that's stressful yeah I think I'm fine with that that's good yeah but um I would much rather take the electrical scooters over any sort of um tube or bus or taxi or uber like sometimes when I'm going to an interview they're like should I put you a taxi and I'm like no I'll take the scooter I'll just take it anywhere it is nice taxi? And I'm like, no, I'll take the scooter. I'll just take it anywhere. It is nice. But I'm lucky, though. The tube in Stockholm, a lot of it is over the ground.

Yeah. Yeah. Most public transport is better when you're not in London, particularly in Europe. Okay. And your second love is a condiment. I keep saying condiment. Is it a condiment? I think so.

I think so. It's a sauce. You know, it's everything to me. Tell us about it. It should be in everything, on everything. Soy sauce. I don't know who came up with it. Many, many, many, many, many years ago, somewhere in Asia, it was a genius who just said yeah let's like ferment these beans and what came out of it was just liquid gold to me when did you when did you begin your love affair with soy slaw I think I've always had it really even as a kid because it's a very like particular taste for a young is it I think so what is it about it's salty it's like a little umami yeah um it's a sophisticated no no i think i think we've always been very um swedish people love

thailand for some reason and basically in any sort of um east Asian food, it would be some sort of soy sauce. Maybe not Vietnamese as much, but, you know, I love Thai food. I love Chinese food. I love Japanese food. I like, I just love that. And I feel like karma in my life is that I'm with a man who is really allergic to soy. Really? Oh, wow. How do you navigate that? Can you just not eat it around?

No, no, no. I do. And I do take him to restaurants, like my favorite Japanese spot. And I'm just like, you're just going to have to have the chicken with no seasoning and white rice. Because I have to have all this um but yeah I just think it's even just a white rice with soy sauce yeah just and it just adds so much to it um that's really where my heart's at if there's a dish that has like soy in it, I'm going to love it. I'm going to love it. How do you navigate eating when you're traveling and you're on tour and you're constantly kind of moving around?

Because that I think is so difficult to maintain any kind of routine. Yeah, it is for me just generally in life having a routine. But I'm such a creature of habit. So if I know that I like something, I will just kind of stick with that. And then a noodle is always kind of safe. And then when you're out on the road, though, specifically in America, it's kind of hard because at least I'm not a vegan because that's tricky. You know, in certain places when you're out next to the highway, there's Popeyes, Taco Bell, and McDonald's. Do you end up eating that or do you bring your own stuff?

No, I would not bring my own stuff. But I think the tour managers that I've had over the years have been very good at... I don't mind eating fast food as long as I get like a salad as well, you know? I'm never too hard on myself. Like, oh, I can't eat that, I can't eat that. I've never had that. But if I only eat like fast food for a week.

Oh, you'll feel gross. You feel gross. And also like, okay, well, if Popeyes was all they had, then I'll take that and I will make like a smoothie, you know, as well. But yeah, that one is a little tricky. But I think there's always like a little Chinese spot wherever you're at, I feel like. So always look for that. Yeah.

Always follow the soy sauce. It's a good strategy. I mean, I can't cook really. And so soy sauce is my kind good strategy i mean i can't i can't cook really and so soy sauce is my kind of go-to ingredient for any dish i'm like it's instantly gonna make it taste 100 100 yeah can you cook no fine um okay and your third love um i think there are a few different things you could say for this, but I think I'm going to lean towards performing. Not a surprise.

Yeah. And you kind of touched on this earlier and you know, you've said that entertaining people and making them happy is kind of like your goal in life. It really is. What is it about that that makes you so happy and do you get that the most when you are on stage and like in front of a crowd of people? I feel really, being on the stage is quite a vulnerable place, but I also feel really powerful and just like anything can happen. And I think it's such a beautiful moment.

I also love to be in the crowd. I love to watch concerts. I love to watch shows, theaters, movies, like anything. I love to enjoy whatever is happening in front of me. people and I think music maybe sports in there a little bit but music is just different it's just primal in a way that it will it's almost like a spiritual thing being together with thousands of people and enjoying a song and singing along with them at the same time it just really does something to you um I think it is a spiritual thing and I also think there's something very special about it now because when we are in this very kind of digital world we've kind of lost a lot of the things that I think would make us feel like that before we had smartphones before we communicated on whatsapp before we had instagram and it's like going to a festival and seeing a

gig performing and being like having that kind of unity is one of the kind of last remaining things that we hold on to. And sure, everyone's there with their phones or whatever, but you're still, you're all there together. And I don't think that's ever going to go away. Yeah. I don't think so. We might be standing with our VR goggles in our rooms, but I still, we want that connection with other people and seeing a video. And you can see that there's probably like millions of other people who have enjoyed it. It's not the same as enjoying it with other people.

So I just think it's incredible that I have gotten like the opportunity to be that vessel, I guess, in a way, of people experiencing great things, at least for a moment. And I think that also this stretches over, like, I just love to make people feel really good. I love to make my friends laugh. I'm such a clown. feel really good I love to make my friends laugh I'm such a clown to the point sometimes where I'm like be serious but you know what I mean like be serious for one second um but I just think life is about having a great time at least that's how I feel now being 25 I'm like I just want to have a great time and do you have kind of role models of

female musicians and performers I mean Beyonce's my number one she's just untouchable to me she really is something I mean what can I even say it's also incredible that she is you know so deep into her career and she's still peaking and she's still relevant not only relevant but she's still the number one yeah setting the agenda she really is she's shifting the culture she is not following whatever's going on right now she's telling us this is what's going on right now or this is what will be going on after i release my album and i'm doing this tour. So that's just a talent in itself, I think. And then also that voice.

And she just has this star quality of being so, I guess you could say natural, but she puts in the work. You know, she's not just waking up and going on stage and doing that. She's not just waking up and going on stage and doing that. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not.

Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. She really puts in the work, but it makes it seem so natural and seamless. natural and seamless um yeah I she's my number one and then I just love women with big voices I grew up listening to Celine Dion um Whitney Houston Christina Aguilera those are my four like number one girlies and um yeah I just I'm just so happy that I get to do this and do you have finally do you have any kind of like standout memories from performing in front of a crowd and like is there any one song in particular that you really love performing and like any kind of yeah standout moments for you

I think I I love to perform um a lot of the album tracks that isn't as popular because it just feels fun and special to me and to see the people who knows those tracks that isn't as popular because it just feels fun and special to me. And to see the people who knows those tracks that aren't necessarily like the hits, it's really fun because I don't get to do them as much as like symphony, for example. But it is so nice to sing a song like that because the majority of the crowd just sings along with you. So that's a different kind of um experience and like feeling when i do that uh i really love all of my songs um and i think a really good experience that i've had when i was doing my tour in south america specifically bra, was just, what are they doing over there?

I think they're just happy. Yeah, I mean, what's happening? Because that crowd, sometimes I can feel like Swedish people are a bit, maybe just a little bit shy. It's not that they're not enjoying it, but maybe they're a bit concerned about like, oh, I don't want to be too loud because I might disturb the person who's next to me. Or I don't. Yeah, it's very like, oh, don't mind me. You know, that kind of culture. So I think Swedish people enjoy music a lot. We just don't express it like the people in South America because they go in. They came to have a good time and you can feel that so uh the festivals in um argentina and brazil have have been yeah they're just up there you know i no one's really touching them as of now I need to go I need to go um that is it for today thank you

so much for listening you can listen to all episodes of Love Lives on all major podcast platforms you can also watch us on independent tv all connected devices and all major social media platforms I will see you soon bye