Zara Larsson facts: Get to know more about the Swedish singer
There's so much to know about her!
Zara Larsson is well-known for her summer bangers 'Lush Life', 'Ain't My Fault', 'Ruin My Life' and 'Don't Worry Bout Me' as well as her smash-hit collab with Clean Bandit, 'Symphony'. Although she's now an established pop sensation at 26-years-old, Zara actually started out aged 10 — winning the Swedish version of Britain's Got Talent!
With Zara having so many amazing songs, and a new album called 'Venus' having landed in February 2024, along with a tour, let's get to know her a bit more — from facts about her biggest hits to how the singer reached her success...
1) Did Zara Larsson win Britain's Got Talent?
If you want to know how Zara Larsson got famous, it's all thanks to her appearance on the Swedish version of Britain's Got Talent, when she was just 10-years-old! It's actually called Talang, instead of Sweden's Got Talent. Zara sang Whitney Houston’s ‘The Greatest Love of All’, and won the show, going home with 500,000 SEK - that’s around £45,000.
Many people wonder whether Zara won The X Factor too — she didn't take part in that particular competition, however, she did perform her song 'Ruin My Life' on the 2018 series of The X Factor.
It would also be easy to mistake Zara for Louisa Johnson, who became the youngest-ever winner of The X Factor at the age of 17 in 2015!
WATCH: Louisa Johnson - 'So Good' (Official Video)
2) Zara's debut single was a cover of Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'
Zara sang the song on the show, and released it as her debut single - which went to Number 7 in the Swedish charts. It was reported that she was re-recording it for an upcoming album, but this has yet to materialise.
3) Zara signed to her first music label when she was just 14-years-old
Just four years later, Zara signed to major label TEN Music Group and put out her debut EP 'Introducing' in January 2013, before releasing her debut album '1' in October 2014, achieving Number 1 status in Sweden.
Her debut album '1' is only available in Scandinavian countries.
4) How many albums does she have now?
Zara now has four albums, three of which were released in the UK. Zara's second album (serving as her first international album), 'So Good', was released in March 2017 and reached Number 1 once again in Sweden, as well as Number 7 in the UK. It spawned singles 'Lush Life', 'I Would Like', 'So Good' and 'Ain't My Fault', and is now certified Platinum in the UK.
She released her third album 'Poster Girl' in 2021. It included hit tracks such as 'Ruin My Life' - and Top 10 hit in the UK - 'Talk About Love' and 'Love Me Land'.
Zara released her fourth album (third international) called 'Venus' in February 2024. In January 2023, she released her first single from the record called 'Can't Tame Her' - which was certified Gold by the BPI in June 2024. Hitting the Number 25 spot in the UK, she track gained a Number 1 title in the US in the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.
She then released 'End Of Time' on 19th May 2023. Speaking to Uproxx, she described the album as "super fun", with "some highs and some lows in there – some beautiful ballads, some dancey songs. I feel like it’s just a collection of really good music."
The third single released from Zara's fourth album was her collaboration with superstar DJ David Guetta 'On My Love' in September 2023. The track peaked at Number 15 in the UK and was accompanied by an adorable music video, showing Zara and her sister Hanna Christina as kids performing in their childhood home.
'You Love Who You Love' was the fourth single to be released from Zara's album 'Venus', on January 2024. It peaked at Number 16 in the UK chart.
The singer told us in an interview just before the album's release that many of the songs are inspired by her friends' love lives. Zara, who has been with her boyfriend Lamin Holmen for four years, explained: "I really get super inspired by my friends, because my own (love) life is so boring!
"I just feel like everything's great, maybe I should do more songs like that 'everything's great, everything's amazing, I'm super happy, I'm super in love', but yeah it's boring in the best, best way possible. No drama!"
Zara Larsson - 'Can't Tame Her' official music video:
5) Zara is a Sagittarius
Wondering how old Zara Larsson is now? She was born on 16th December 1997, making her currently 26-years-old and a Sagittarius.
6) Her UK debut single was a collaboration
Zara has become well-known for her collaborations with other artists, and her debut single in the UK was a 2015 collaboration with MNEK on the track 'Never Forget You'. The track is now certified 2x Platinum in the UK, hitting Number 5 in the UK Singles Chart.
7) Zara sang on the official song for the EUROs 2016
She teamed up with David Guetta for the official song for EUROS 2016, 'This One's For You'. It was a Top 20 hit in the UK, gaining a Gold certification from the BPI.
8) She studied at The Royal Swedish Ballet School as a child
She moved to the school in third grade, and studied there until the age of 15, later studying at Kulturama, an art school in Stockholm.
9) Zara's first UK Number 1 was 'Symphony'
Zara sang on 'Symphony' a collaboration with Clean Bandit, which reached Number 1 in the Official UK Charts.
Zara is no stranger to a chart hit in the UK, winning a Number 2 spot with 'I Would Like', a Number 3 with 'Lush Life' and peaking at Number 5 with both 'Girls Like', a collaboration with Tinie Tempah, and 'Never Forget You' - her first UK single, and a collaboration with MNEK.
10) Her sister is also a singer
Zara Larsson's sister Hanna Larsson is also a singer! Although the pair look very similar, they aren't twins, and Hanna is two years younger than the 'Lush Life' singer.
Hanna stars in Zara's music video for 'On My Love' with David Guetta. The singer told us that she really loves her sister and wanted her to be involved. She said: "I've written songs about my sister and I just love her so much. Like we are two peas in a pod.
"Growing up, we shared everything, we shared clothes, shoes, friends, we are so similar, but very different. We operate very differently, like she's a planner, I'm very spontaneous, and she's my oldest friend and she's hopefully you know, going to be my best friend for the rest of my life."
11) She wrote songs with Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande... But scrapped them!
In 2020 Zara revealed she'd scrapped some songs she's recorded with Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran for her album! Zara told Daily Star newspaper's Wired column in 2020 that she might include a song that features Ariana Grande singing in a choir: "We did these full-on choir back-up vocals in the staircase.
"I might release that song, but you won't be able to hear that it is her in all of these vocals in that song. I don't know if I'll put it on the album, it's not on there right now. Also, sorry to say to Ariana fans, you can't really hear her on there anyway because we did a gang vocal thing, so there's like 10 people singing at the same time. But she's so sweet."
WATCH: Zara Larsson Takes Our British Slang Quiz
12) She tried being vegetarian for a while
In 2017, Zara revealed that she'd previously been vegetarian, but had to give it up as she enjoyed eating fish too much: "I used to be vegetarian but I love eating fish so much that I had to quit. It’s too delicious."
13) Where is she from?
She's from Solna, an area of Sweden's capital city, Stockholm.
14) Is Zara Larsson an actress?
Zara had her acting debut in a Swedish Netflix film called A Part of You. The film was released in May 2024 and features Zara in the lead role of Julia, the older sister of Agnes, who appears to have everything.
We spoke to Zara about the film and she told us: "I'm actually very down to venture out into the acting world I think, my really good friend wrote the script (for A Part of You).
"She was like, I want you to be in this! And it went well, I got it, it was such a fun experience, I also think the director was amazing. The other actors in it are absolutely brilliant, and it's so beautiful, and it's really, really, really, it's sad, but it's hopeful, and it's really raw, it's more like an indie vibe? It's not what you would think a Netflix movie would be."
NOW WATCH: Can Zara Larsson Remember Her Own Tweets?
You can hear Zara Larsson's biggest hits on Northsound 1.
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