Based on the attendance of her Osheaga (and Lollapalooza) headlining shows, I’m probably definitely in the minority when I say I find Zara Larsson’s music quite dull and manufactured. Still, as she appeared on stage with her host of dancers at her River stage show, the crowd—packed to the gills—went bonkers for this real-life Swedish Barbie. She also had a band, which I can appreciate in this modern pop backing track age, but much of their Midnight Sun instrumentation was blown out and overshadowed by the generic pop beats and Larsson’s vocals.
The big pop star shows at Osheaga always have an eye-catching set, but Zara Larsson’s, which featured (what looked like cardboard) cut-outs of rolling hills and tropical flowers, felt like window dressing that added nothing to the songs. If you want to actually make your set dressing thematically mean something, take inspiration from Not For Radio or even Lorde’s Osh art decor. Theirs had a pulse, and Zara Larsson’s felt like a Pinterest board.
Larsson’s one addition was the pink sports car (with the license plate Puss Puss 97), which was funny, but fleeting as it disappeared into the “lush” landscape. Zara Larsson herself has an amazing voice, but the songwriting is very paint-by-numbers Top 40 pop — a little cumbia beat here, a 4/4 dance shimmer there, with some sexual innuendos there —there’s no real grit to it, and I couldn’t pick it out from the other pop tracks. You could put these plain-jane lyrics under any beat, and the result would be the same. Great voice, boring songwriting.
Again, these songs are not for me. They’re for Olivia, the young girl who was at the front of the barricade and was picked by Zara Larsson to dance with her on stage and received a signed t-shirt in front of 50,000 people. I’m sure that will be a memory many hold dear. Not me.
Photo by Tim Snow
