“music is subjective.
so it’s hard to be the best. but I want to be the best,
however you measure that.”
After winning Talang, the Sweden’s Got Talent, when she was only 10 years old, she was poised for stardom.
“I kind of expected the whole thing to get me a record deal or make me some sort of superstar, but nothing
happened. Nothing changed and I was devastated,” she says. In fact, nothing happened until four years later
when she finally snagged that recording contract. “I released my first song and EP when I turned 15, and
that’s when my life started changing.”As the world around her changes, she is committed to always being
engaged and appreciative when it comes to meeting fans, qualities she says she picked up from her own idol
and inspiration – Beyoncé. “I met her the 29th of May, 2013 – I’ll never forget it. I bawled my eyes out. I
was in the very front, and when I met her after she said ‘you were the girl crying in the front row’ and she
was very sweet. We had a little chat. She was so in the moment, present and focused. She’s a huge inspiration
when it comes to both music and her as a person.”Larsson is already an impressive young woman in her own
right, as evidenced by her strong feminist views and a fearless refusal to back down from speaking her mind.
“I’m proud that I was raised in a family where I was taught to stand for something. Sweden is a country
where feminism is always a big topic and everyone’s involved.” Larsson made waves last year when she posted
a picture on her Instagram account of her leg encased in a condom, almost up to her knee. The caption read,
“To all the guys saying ‘my dick is too big for condoms’ TAKE A SEAT.” Needless to say, this caused a stir,
but Larsson’s not afraid of a little controversy if she believes in the cause. “I have very heated online debates.
I will always stand for something. I am proud of that. It can be very confusing for youth when sex is a taboo
subject to talk about and there’s a lack of education on the topic, yet it’s in your face everywhere and sex
sells.” To her, being a feminist is simple: “I just want women to be treated the same way as men, when it
comes to how much money people make and how women are looked at and perceived.” Amen!Her existential view on life and how much of herself she is willing to share with the public is just as straight-forward,
and errs more on the side of Camus than MTV. “I’m such a pessimist when it comes to my existence. I feel
like, I’m just here for 80-ish years and I’m just gonna exist right now, and I’m going to share everything that
I can and if people can relate and I make people happy then that’s great. And then I’m going to die and be
nonexistent forever.” Between being hand-picked by famed DJ, David Guetta, to sing the 2016 European
Football Championship theme song and a new album in the works, she’s certainly making the most of her
time here. Inevitably, however, fame and opportunity comes with responsibility, and people expect young
celebrities to be role models whether they want to be or not. We’ve seen unrealistic expectations placed on
young women for years, built up only to be torn down when the “perfect image” they never asked to represent is questioned due to their words or behaviour. I ask Larsson if she feels like she’s a role model and how
she handles that pressure. “It depends how you define it. People say Rihanna’s not a good role model, but
I think she’s a great role model because she’s being herself. Are you a bad role model if you use profanities?
Drink alcohol? What defines a good or a bad role model? In my opinion a good role model is somebody who
stands for equality, who cares about injustices, and who can teach their audiences. I would love it if people
looked up to me. I don’t have the best language in the world, and I will make ‘mistakes’ as I get older and go
out to clubs and stuff, but I will always stand for people being nice to each other and that everybody should
be able to do what they want and be their own person.”When asked where she’d like to see her career take
her, Larsson’s response is ambitious yet realistic. “I would just like my fans to want to come to my shows and
listen to my music, I wanna win a lot of Grammys and have a lot of number 1s. At the same time, it’s so hard
when it comes to a creative job because music is subjective. So it’s hard to be the best. But I want to be the
best, however you measure that.”And with the world at her feet, the strength and determination of a warrior,
and a voice mature beyond its years, I have no doubt she will be the best…however you measure that.