Zara Maria Larsson (/ˈzɑːrə/, Swedish: [²sɑːra ˈlɑːʂɔn] (listen); born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. At the age of 10, she achieved national fame in Sweden for winning the 2008 season of the talent show Talang, the Swedish version of British TV's Got Talent.^[1] Four years later, in 2012, Larsson signed with the record label TEN Music Group and released her debut EP album Introducing in January 2013. The single "Uncover" topped the music charts in Scandinavia: Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.^[2] In February 2013, "Uncover" was certified Platinum by Universal Music Sweden.^[3] In July 2013, her EP Introducing was certified 3× Platinum in the country.^[4] Larsson signed a three-year contract with Epic Records in the United States in April 2013.^[5] In 2016, she performed at the opening and closing ceremonies for UEFA Euro in France.^[6]

Four years after her first album, Larsson's debut international album So Good was released on 17 March 2017 and entered at number seven on the UK Albums Chart. It produced eight singles: "Lush Life", "Never Forget You", "Ain't My Fault", "I Would Like", "So Good", "Don't Let Me Be Yours", "Only You", and "Symphony", a collaboration with Clean Bandit. Almost all the album's singles reached the top 15 in the UK. "Never Forget You" peaked in the United States at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100, giving Larsson and English singer MNEK their first entries on the chart. Similarly, "Symphony" became Larsson's first number one single on the UK Singles Chart.

In October 2018, Larsson released "Ruin My Life", the lead single from her upcoming third album.

Larsson was born at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, Stockholm County, Sweden , to Agnetha and Anders Larsson.^[7][8] In an interview with Svenska Dagbladet, she said that she was born "dead" due to a lack of oxygen from nuchal cord.^[8] Larsson grew up in Enskede, south of Stockholm. Her mother is a nurse and her father is an officer. She has a 3-year younger sister, Hanna, who is also a singer and a member of the band Lennix.^[9]

Larsson went to Gubbängsskolan for primary school, but in her third grade transferred to the Royal Swedish Ballet School and studied until age 15.^[10] Afterwards she went to Kulturama, an art school in Stockholm. She described that the new environment quickly made her much more aware of the world, social issues, and gender patterns, which increasingly came to impress in her public role.^[11] In a 2015 interview, Larsson said that she was accepted into the Adolf Fredrik's Music School for junior high school, but declined because she did not want to sing in a choir.^[12]

Larsson won the 2008 season of Talang, the Swedish adaptation of Got Talent, at the age of 10,^[13] winning 500,000 kronor.^[14][15] "My Heart Will Go On", the song she sang in the final, originally sung by Celine Dion, was later released as Larsson's debut single.

Larsson signed with TEN Music Group in 2012 to record her debut extended play. Larsson's debut EP, Introducing, was leaked on 9 December 2012 through a preview of "Uncover" on YouTube. The five-song album was released on 21 January 2013.^[16] "Uncover" was released as the album's lead single. It peaked at number one on both the Sverigetopplistan and DigiListan charts,^[17] as well as reaching number one in Norway and peaking at number three in Denmark,^[18][19] and by 25 February 2013, the song was certified Platinum in Sweden by Universal Music Sweden.^[3] The song entered the Svensktoppen track lists.^[2] In July 2013, at Sommarkrysset in Gröna Lund, she received a 3× Platinum award for Introducing.^[4][20]

On 27 March 2013, Larsson's next EP was revealed through a preview of "She's Not Me (Pt. 1)".^[21] The five-song EP, Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself, was released on 5 July 2013.^[22] The double-single "She's Not Me" (consisting of "She's Not Me (Pt. 1)" and "She's Not Me (Pt. 2)") was released on 25 June 2013.^[22] On 3 April 2013, Larsson revealed on her blog that she had signed a three-year contract with Epic Records in the United States.^[5][23] On 11 December 2013, Larsson performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo.^[24] On 1 October 2014, Larsson released her debut studio album 1, including the songs "Uncover", "Bad Boys" and "She's Not Me" (Pt. 1 and Pt. 2). The album went Platinum in Sweden. Larsson was an opening act for British singer Cher Lloyd's I Wish Tour.^[25]

On 5 June 2015, Larsson released the single "Lush Life" from her upcoming second studio album. The song became her second number one single and was certified 4× Platinum in Sweden. The song reached the top five in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.^[26][27][28]

On 22 July 2015, Larsson released her collaboration with British singer MNEK, the single "Never Forget You".^[29] The song reached number one in Sweden, number three in Australia,^[30] and number five in the United Kingdom.^[31][32] The song was certified Platinum in Sweden after two weeks.^[33]

In February 2016, Tinie Tempah released "Girls Like" featuring Larsson.^[34] Larsson was later featured in the official song of UEFA Euro 2016, David Guetta's "This One's for You".^[35]

On 1 September 2016, Larsson released "Ain't My Fault", the third single taken from her upcoming album.^[36] On 22 October 2016, Larsson was named one of Time's "30 Most Influential Teens of 2016".^[37] She released "I Would Like", the fourth single from her upcoming album, on 11 November 2016.^[38] It peaked at number two in the United Kingdom^[39] and at number four in Sweden.^[40]

In January 2017, Larsson released "So Good", featuring American rapper Ty Dolla Sign. The single served as the fifth single from her second album of the same name, which was released on 17 March 2017.^[41] The album features other collaborations with Wizkid and Clean Bandit titled "Sundown" and "Symphony" respectively.^[42] The latter track was released as a single on the same date and became Larsson's fifth number one single in her home country^[43] and first number one single in the United Kingdom.^[44] The album became her second number one album in Sweden and peaked in the top ten in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway^[45] and the United Kingdom.^[46]

On 12 May 2017, Larsson released a music video for "Don't Let Me Be Yours" as the sixth single from So Good,^[47] with "Only You" being released as the seventh single from the album on 11 August 2017.^[48]

In September 2017, Larsson announced that she had started work on her third studio album saying in an interview she had written two new songs with MNEK. On 11 December 2017, Larsson once again performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, this time alongside American singer John Legend.^[49]

In January 2018, Larsson was named to Forbes' "30 Under 30 Europe" list in the entertainment category.^[50] A year after she had first anticipated her third studio album, in September 2018 she announced via a tweet that she would be releasing a new single, "Ruin My Life" soon. The month after Larsson announced the artwork for the single and the release date of 18 October 2018.

In January 2019, she was featured on the song "Holding Out for You" by Italian rapper, singer and songwriter Fedez.^[51] On 29 March 2019, Larsson released, "Don't Worry Bout Me" as the second single from her upcoming third studio album. "Wow" was released as the third single from the album on 26 April 2019. Larsson performed at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend 2019 at Stewart Park in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. Her set included new song titled "All the Time", which she confirmed will appear on her upcoming album. The song was released as the fourth single on 21 June 2019.

Also in 2019, Larsson made a new cover of "My Heart Will Go On", and it will be included on her upcoming third album.

Larsson has grown increasingly vocal with her views on other artists and industry workers with whom she works and admires. While she has high praise for performers such as Beyoncé,^[52] she is equal in her opposing views of such artists like Dr. Luke^[53] and Chris Brown.^[54]

In January 2015, Larsson gained a lot of positive attention in Sweden and the United States after posting a picture on her Instagram showing a condom wrapped around her leg and foot in response to boys' concern that their penises were too big to fit a condom around it.^[55]

In order to increase public understanding of incontinence, she has openly stated that she used a diaper for seven years.^[56]

In 2015, Larsson got to plan a Summer speech to be broadcast on Sveriges Radio. The 48-minute speech was broadcast live on the P1 channel on 25 July 2015, at 13:00 CET. In the speech, she talked about her life, her music career, her feminist views, others' reactions to her, and her feelings about all of it.^[57]

Since 2017, she has been dating British model Brian H. Whittaker, whom she tweeted in 2015, but did not meet until 2 years later.^[58][59]

Larsson, a self-proclaimed fan of Beyoncé, identifies as a feminist and models herself an "activist" after the singer.^[52] She attributes her openness of opinion on social media and within interviews to her parents, claiming: "Both my parents are very educated when it comes to social issues and being woke about what's going on in the world, and they've been very supportive of me having a voice".^[52] Larsson says she "has received a lot of hate" for her feminist opinions, including being called a "man hater". She accepts the label and has added that she "doesn't care", because "it doesn't really hurt men if I hate them".^[60]

In March 2019, it was announced that Larsson had started a commercial cooperation with Chinese technology company Huawei.^[61] Larsson's cooperation with Huawei was criticised by experts on humans right in China and others, who referred to Huawei's close ties to the authoritarian Chinese government and its record on human rights among other things.^[62]

Zara Larsson is mainly a pop^[63][64][65] and R&B^[66][67] singer. She also does electropop,^[68] house,^[69] and dance music.^[70]

Her biggest influence is Beyoncé.^[71]

Swedish singer Zara Larsson has received multiple awards and nominations. She has won a Government's Music Export Prize, four Grammis Sverige, three MTV European Music Awards and eight Rockbjörnen.