ZARA LARSSON: WE DID A LOT OF FAMILY THERAPY

0:00The market's uncertain. Revenue's tied and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving. Go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. Hello, I'm Katherine Ryan, and this is Write Me Dirty, the podcast where two comedians write steamy, ridiculous erotica about each other. I give them a bizarre prompt, think apocalypse must include a zombie, and they read their spicy stories aloud while I judge them on sexiness, funniness, and sheer chaos.

0:49It's hilarious, awkward, and occasionally kind of hot. Write Me Dirty. Thursdays just got thirstier. Write Me Dirty.

1:04Hello, everyone. My name is Jamie Laying, and this is Great Company.

1:11Good morning, Jemima. Good morning, afternoon or evening to the listener whenever they are consuming this. Well, well done. Good day. Good day. Sounds like something off the Truman Show. Good afternoon, good evening, and good night. You ever watch the Truman Show? Yeah. Great show, Jim Carrey. Did you, after watching it, think that you were in the Truman Show? A little bit, yeah. Do you think you're in it now? Sometimes. Because you are. Okay, good. Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Oh, yes. Hello, everyone. My name is Jamie Lang, and I'm the host of Great Company, and you are? The producer.

1:42Jemima. Jemima and I sit before each episode to talk about the upcoming show, what I've done wrong in the previous episodes, and what I should maybe change. So many notes. So much you've done wrong. Also, just not in the episode as well, just what you've done wrong this week. Okay, good. Today's episode. Oh, it's a biggie. Who is it? You should know this. I know who it is. I was just testing you, the producer. Zara Larsson. Zara Larsson is a international pop sensation. She's a Swedish singer-songwriter. Have you been to Sweden before? I've never been. Haven't you? But when I was younger, I used to pretend I was Swedish because I thought it would add a little bit more excitement to my...

2:20A little je ne sais quoi. Yeah, a little bit. You're blonde, so... Blonde, so I thought that would work. and I could say Djasgedai, which is very bad Swedish, but it supposedly means I love you. Do you know what I can say in Swedish? What? Järken interproto Svenska. What does that mean? I don't speak Swedish. Love that. Zara first became famous in Sweden at 10 years old when she won the Swedish version of Britain's Got Talent. That's mad. She's been in the public eye for such, like her career has been so long. It's insane. And she's so young. She's like, I think she's 26. Yep. Yep. She's 26. She's so young.

2:53She gets 28 million monthly Spotify listeners and counting, which is incredible. Wow, almost as good as our numbers. I know, right? And she's kind of, at the moment, she has just bought back all of her masters, which is basically where you... Do you know? Go on. Do you want to have a go? What I'm assuming it is, is like how Taylor Swift tried to buy back her masters from Scooter Braun and now she has Taylor's version. It's your original creation of that song. So it's the original recordings of the song that you can then re-release as your own. Yeah. So you keep all the revenue from it. It's so powerful.

3:26She is in her CEO era. Oh, that's great. Like that. Yeah. Zara's really like a proper pop purist. Yeah. And she is a big, big fan of Beyonce. Okay. And I do prequel before the interview and I did it with her, one of her managers, Rob. And he said, if you mention Beyonce, she'll probably cry. Okay. I can't wait. I'm going to mention Beyonce. It's like a red rag to a bowl. tears I want them tears I want them so Beyonce is going to be mentioned I can't wait for that okay okay I remember your advice from the last episode with Elizabeth Day what was it it was to enjoy the silence yeah to shut up to shut up which I will try and do and I'm ready for it are you?

4:09I'm really excited for this one okay here's the episode of Great Company with Zara Larson I didn't graduate oops

4:25I'm fine I only had like one more subject or something and I was like I don't need it stay in school though

4:40Hi I'm Zara Larson and I'm great company Did you ever as a when because I mean you've you've basically been in the public eyes since you were like 10 so before you were did you ever were you singing into the mirror oh because i've got my 10 000 hours in the mirror oh hello like like 40 000 probably i was like welcome to my show since i i i can't even when did i start i feel like it's a part of me yeah it really is a part of who i am It's part of my identity. I just want to. I don't know. I don't know where it comes from. I'm not from a family that, you know, values entertainment. I'm not from a musical family.

5:30I didn't grow up around creatives, but I have always wanted to do that. Is it because One of the worst moments of I think my life Was when I went to a boarding school And I must have been about 15 And I had a hairbrush And I was singing And I don't know if you know a band called Blue That was in the UK You may not know Anyway they had a song which is I swear if you come back in my life I'll be there till the end of time Back to me And I was singing this All boys boarding school You thought you were by yourself Man I was freaking there I was front and center there singing and then three of my best friends walked in and I was topless and I was singing and I I don't know my provisional because I was so in it I didn't see them and it backed me oh like honestly nearly swallowed but haven't we all done that?

6:25haven't we all done that? yeah you know it's just something about I think it feels really good to sing it does for everybody whether you're good or bad it feels really good to dance it feels really good to feel like you are the shit to feel like hey i'm in it i feel it it's something that moves me i am also entertaining myself i think that's also why it's so fun to sing in the mirror like i'm not just like oh i want to be on stage i want to entertain other people and have a good time with them i am right now as i'm looking at myself connecting with myself and entertaining myself. But some people, it's not completely, some people shy, like my brother, for example, would, he would, but maybe.

7:11You don't think he sent it from the mirror or did growing up? He used to, we used to share a bedroom together and he used to protect, I used to lie in one bed, he would lie in the other. And he was, I think he was always like at war because he was always going, I don't know what the hell he was doing. But I don't think, I think he would, I think his idea of being on stage, being in that place is just everything he wouldn't want perhaps so it's but even now thinking about it like actually take away the stage just having that moment with yourself i just cannot imagine i mean that's just maybe me personally why i can't imagine it because that's just such a big part of who i am to be to be that person yeah maybe some people aren't interested in that maybe they're interested in other things.

7:59Do you think people are just born with that innate ability to entertain? Perhaps. And I've really been thinking about it for the past year. It's like, okay, why do I have this intense longing for being on stage and entertain other people? Like, what is it? Do I crave the love? Do I crave the attention? Do I like, why? Why do I feel that way? And why have I always felt that way? Because I don't come from a home that was lacking in love or affection or anything like that. And I just think I would pick a career if I couldn't sing. I would still want to do something that would let me connect with other people.

8:42Like I want to relate. I want to relate to others and I want other people to relate to me. And I want to feel like they see me and I see them. I don't know. I really enjoy just people. I love people. I love having conversation with people. I love just having that special moment, even if it's brief. It's just like, oh, we had a little something, you know, and I carry that with me. And I think I want to give that to other people because I just love people. Yeah, this is why I do this podcast is because I just I think people are amazing and I think actually in this in our current life we actually sort of social media has done that to us we've actually become distant from one another rather than become connected we become disconnected I think and actually connecting with people is Don't you think also social media helps you connect with people?

9:34I don't I my personal take on it is this I think it helps you connect for sure Maybe an illusion of connection Correct I don't think FaceTime's phone calls messaging I don't think that's real connection You don't? No I think and I had this big discussion with about this the other day because um i went through a period of feeling a bit lonely but and um this person was like well you you got lots of friends and i was like yeah i know but i felt really and i what i realized is that i was just calling people right and so what i would do wake up in the morning call my friend toby hey what's up what's up hey what's up yeah fine okay great tick tick done that connected thing so i wasn't really connecting and i but There's definitely a difference.

10:18I hear you. I also think what's funny, though, is my wife, right, will be messaging, talking to her friends or her sister or her sister every single day. I think to maybe not generalize it at all, but I definitely think from my experience, I've seen it with my wife, women are much better at connecting. Much better at connecting. Maybe because we've just been conditioned also to have those relationships and to kind of water our relationship plants, you know. I think I mean I don't know but in general I do feel like it's more it's more like a thing for women to be caring and nurturing and you know just in society as we we look at women as more like motherly or they have this instinct and I don't even know if that's biologically in us or if it's just something that we expect women to do because I feel like I'm super bad at that like I feel like I'm a terrible friend sometimes just because I look at my other friends I'm like oh I wish I could be like my sister I wish I could have that really really strong I do have strong bonds in my life but like if you're not in front of me you don't really exist like if I'm away yeah I'm like yeah it's because you're selfish no it's not there's just like I'm very I'm very present with what I'm doing now but if I don't I'm the type of I feel like you don't have to speak every day like with my friends I'm like cool I don't have to talk to you every day or every week you have that confidence yeah you're not you're not striving like I but you do need to talk to them sometimes you do need to like hey like my best friend she she went to school up north, like the northern point of Sweden for like a year.

12:08We didn't speak for a year. You're a good friend. It's so funny now. Like now she's back and we're like, oh, we're friends again. And we like laugh about it. We just miss the year of each other's lives. Yeah, but that's also because maybe you've experienced, because you've been, you know, you were signed by an album at 14 years old. You know, you won what I could sort of describe as the equivalent of Brilliant Scott Talent in Sweden at 10 years old. Yeah. Right. And so for you, you've kind of always been on this road and always been traveling different places. So for you, you've always kind of been distant, maybe.

12:40Yeah. And you've realized that you can reconnect at any times. Yeah, because I do come back. Yeah, of course. And I think also now when you're older, you realize that if you have friends that you had for a long time, then I'm not worried that they will disappear into thin air. I think maybe we're just in a patch where we don't speak that much. and that's fine. And then we're going to find our way back to each other and then we might do this and then we might meet again and then we might do this and then we might meet again. That's a lot of, you have a lot of confidence. Yeah? Yeah. You think it's a confidence thing?

13:15Self, you're very, you, it feels like a lot of sort of self-worth. It feels like, because, you know, what you're saying, right, is, okay, typically a lot of people in the industry, especially entertainment industry, right, are sort of striving for something. And, And that's because you want to become famous. And if you become famous, you get validation. Like I know that I went on to do reality TV is because I thought, well, if I go and do this show, then I'm going to be loved by so many people. And that's going to cure all of these things. And then I'm not going to feel abandonment or whatever it is.

13:49And it doesn't do that. And so you're then kind of just doing things because you think it's going to be cured. But with you, from what you said, you have a great family. Yeah. You have great friends, all these different things. And so you're very lucky. You're just kind of doing it for the love. You're not, you're not being dragged by something. Your own personal insecurities really, it feels like. I hope so. I do have this ambition for validation. And like, I do crave that. And maybe like you asked earlier, do you think some people are born with that? perhaps maybe there's something in my brain that just really needs the dopamine that needs like that little rush that you get from like being on stage or having someone come up to you and like you're amazing or like you know what I mean like it makes you feel good it makes you feel good yeah but it but that becomes a little bit of an issue right do you have therapy I've gone once or twice So you don't do it regularly?

14:54No, I don't do anything regularly except for the music, basically. That's insane. You're insane. No, I sort of do therapy now. Yeah, good for you. Yeah, and I was in the therapy session and I was talking about this idea of validation. And the issue that we have with, again, sort of the entertainment world is that, and especially with sort of social media and things like that, is that every like you get, every stream you get for your album, your song, every time you sell a ticket, it's that constant dopamine hit. Bah, bah, bah. All the time. And it never ends. And it never ends. Yeah. And if you are striving for that validation, there's never going to be a point where you go, I'm satisfied.

15:39Because everything is relative too. I remember when my first, do you remember Instagram, where they used to have like the explore page, used to really be not the for you page or like discovery page it used to be like what's popping right now the first picture that got on that uh like popular page i think it was called i remember feeling on top of the world and i think my picture got like five five thousand likes and i was just like oh my god i can't believe it if my picture now will get five thousand likes i'll be like i'm a flop i'm deleting my instagram you know what I mean I'll be like I fucking suck it's just so you you constantly raise the bar for yourself so I've actually taken it speaking of that I've actually taken I don't want to see anyone's likes on Instagram I've taken that off I don't want to see my likes I've taken that off because I do find myself looking at that like way too much has that helped yeah really yeah I'm like I don't I don't I don't want to compare myself to which is maybe like oh who cares I care I care and I think it's so good of you to yeah I think more don't I think most people do care it's a human thing and also validation like that's not all bad it's a very it's a very it's a very human thing like we all want validation and I think it's necessary to just like survive like we want to be in the group we want to be a part of something but too much of it you just have to keep it on a level that's semi-healthy you know I read somewhere that you slightly you nearly struggle with burnout I don't know yeah I feel like do I I've because I never go to sleep like i don't like going to sleep i think it's such a sad sad sad moment of the day where you have to uh so funny i swear i have a similar thing yeah yeah i'm not gonna go to bed make sure everyone's awake soon okay everyone why does i have to end i hate that but um yeah my body will tell me go to sleep actually which is nice but also I I realized one time I was feeling really shit I was super tired I just felt my whole body like I worked really really hard the whole year I think it was like 2018 and I was gonna do this thing at Disney and I was in New York and I was really not in a good place mentally and I just couldn't I just felt like like my body was like nah I just couldn't do it and then my manager was like so do you want to cancel it and go home then and I was like I can do that it's like an option you know what I mean like I was like what are you allowed to and she was like yeah if you don't feel good you could you could cancel it and I didn't know that was like a thing that you could do but she was like yeah you can go home and like be with your family like go see your mom and I was like yes I want to do that and then I just got on the flight home and I really really needed that I really needed that was that liberating because you were saying like oh my god I can make a decision like that something big like that that's a huge moment yeah and i don't really cancel stuff and i don't you know if i have something that i have said that i'm gonna do i i do it but that one was definitely very it was nice and i think that's one of the only times i've done that and it's just nice to know if you really need to the world is not gonna end we aren't doctors on the operating table it's just disneyland such a yeah it's just a podcast it doesn't actually it doesn't doesn't matter yeah i really wanted to matter but when you're recording a song when you're writing it when you're finding the lyrics and you're getting whatever the whatever you're getting within your song when you hear one and you're like this feels good when you're in that scene you're like you're and you're like, this is it.

20:05This is fucking it. This is good. You've had that a few times, right? Yes, so many times. I'm like, you're not even ready. They're ready for me. No one's ready for me. You don't even know. And then I felt that way with Love Me Land, my first single off Poster Girl. I really felt like, guys, like, nah. You hearing what I'm hearing? Are you hearing what I'm hearing? I don't think you're ready for this shit This is gonna blow every chart Like everyone is gonna like How do you know that though? I just felt like it was such a good song And then it didn't do what I wanted it to But you know what? Is that marketing?

20:47I truly, I don't even know I don't even know Maybe it's the stars aligning in the universe I think there's so many things That just has to be right For that moment in time But the thing is I'm so proud of that song And I love the video I love everything about it. And even just releasing it just felt like a proud moment because you and I don't feel like when I release stuff that I feel really happy about that it's you can't lose. You really can't lose. And I'm just not saying that. Like, I feel like I feel sad for the people missing out on that song. That's really what I feel. That is a great way.

21:24So you don't it doesn't create maybe it doesn't it doesn't create self-doubt. It doesn't make you scared. It just makes you go. It makes me like, hello, wake up. Wake up. That's how I feel. Very good. Yeah, and then. You guys didn't hear it? What the fuck? It was freaking me. It was amazing. And then I think if you would have released something. A great way to twist it, but not even twist it because that's a wrong word. It's the great way to view it. But if you release something that you're not super proud of and you feel that way of. I've released songs that I feel like this is good but I'm also mostly excited about like this might feel like a hit and then but I've never really released something that I didn't like but let's say you do that I know a lot of artists that have done that and they release something and you know if it's a hit they love it you know wow it's it was a number one I love it it got two billion streams if it's not a hit and then you stand there with a song that you don't even like that's like a flop to me emotionally that's an emotional flop which is the worst type of flop what does that feel like it's the worst kind of flop yeah it's gonna flop what does that feel like i think it would just be like again like why am i doing this who am i doing this for and then that's when your um drive and ambition started because you're like well because that's what keeps you going in life right just for everyone it's the ambitious to drive and it's hard when you are an artist that is um competitive which i think every artist is or has a drive to want to be at least the best version of yourself but also with like you you you want to be you want to be in the game you know when you have that it's hard to also compare because music is so it's like Jay-Z said at the Grammys like this is just a bunch of people voting for what they think is the best song it's not necessarily the best album or the best song because there is no such thing there's only the best song for you like me and my dad we have very different types of um genres yeah and tastes that we listen to yeah that doesn't mean that he hates the grateful dead or yeah imagine but he probably wouldn't have my you know the majority of my songs on his playlist that he would listen to when he relaxes or cooks or whatever and i probably wouldn't listen to motorhead and that's not saying they're bad it's just not my type of vibe you know what i mean yeah so that's also something that's hard but when someone is amazing like beyonce when someone is just, sorry, but objectively the best.

24:14Have you heard her? Of course. What, Texas Holden? Yeah, and 16 Carriages. That makes me cry. No, it doesn't. Yeah, it does. It makes you cry? Yeah. Can someone play it? Wait, hang on. Why does it make you cry? I don't know. Can we hear it? I just want to, because I know, Texas Holden, I'm into it. No, 16 Carriages, have you heard that? It's a bit unclear what the song is about, but you could you could see it from different perspectives and and one of them is like 16 carriages is that her years that she's been in the industry like her her life like she sees her life the 16 is that her tour buses going away on the road driving away with her dreams of because even though Beyonce is like you know she's the superstar of the world she's like the celebrity of celebrities and everybody just not everybody but everybody who who has good taste loves her uh i would say she probably also have a lot of dreams that she couldn't fulfill because she had to sacrifice a big part of her life to her career and where she's at right now and was it worth it did she get to experience all the things she wanted like she obviously lives a very very different life than you and me she can't walk out she can't she can't have this like connection with strangers because everybody just sees her as a phenomenon almost i could only imagine and that's also something you got to think about like oh you know i want to be this like superstar i want to be like a celebrity and like i want everybody to love me but then i also want people to love me for me because i don't know beyonce and not a lot of people actually know her at least the people who follow her.

25:59And that's sad. I don't know. That made me cry. But why? Because you care for her so much or it relates to you? Is that what it is? It's because you care for her so much. That's unbelievable. You're like an empath. Sorry, that is... You're actually getting tearful. I'm going to clip up this bit and just add it to another bit so it doesn't feel like it's about Beyonce. Do you want a tissue? I'm not gonna cry But it is It's just like I don't even know if that song's about that But to me it felt like I could empathize with that And she probably has Had the most amazing life And obviously experienced stuff that A regular person wouldn't And so have I I've been traveling I've been able to tour the world with my music But what have you sacrificed?

26:56Maybe like time time with the people I love and what's more more important than that really when you go out and yes you do get love from people you don't know but like when you are on your deathbed and you lay there and you think back about life isn't it the relationships the real relationships that we have with people that really meant everything but I think also you want to leave like a legacy or you want to inspire people and and be a part that's why music is so beautiful like sometimes I have people walking up to me and they're like oh my gosh like your song was uh I was I had your song as I got married or on my graduation or this really important moment in someone's life and I got to be a part of that or they would have looked at my videos in a time where they felt sad or wasn't in a good place and they felt inspired or even someone might be listening to your podcast and felt it maybe just ticked a little thought that led them to something.

28:04You know, I think it's nice that you are able to inspire people, but personally, at the end of the very, very end, I don't know, like, what is this all about? There's a, like a, is it a fable? I don't know. But there's a story which I heard recently, which is, and I'm going to completely murder it, but I'm going to give it a go, where it's a fisherman and an American businessman. And the American businessman says to the fisherman, what do you do? He says, well, I go and fish in the morning. And then I do a little bit and I come back to my family and I play with them and I have a great time with them.

28:41We eat the fish. And the American businessman says, well, why don't you spend all your day fishing, collect the fish, take it back to your family, but then go and sell the fish. And the fisherman says Why would I do that? Well, then you can make more money And the fisherman goes Why would I do that? He goes Then you can sell the fish And you can then Maybe go and sell the fish Collect money Go and buy a factory Tin it up And then you've got the production And then you can sell more And the fisherman says Why would I do that? And he goes Then you can sell all that And you can have loads of money And the fisherman says Why would you do that?

29:10And he goes Then you can spend more time With your family And the fisherman says Well, I was doing that In the first place That makes me want to cry Bill, capitalism

29:22but you know what i mean right and so yeah it gets me a bit emotional because what the hell are you doing to me because at the end of the day yeah that's really what is important yeah it really is love relationships loyalty track all those kind of things all the other stuff that we're doing right here you know but maybe that gets us purpose right and purpose is really important and and in terms of purpose you know you're so fulfilled with what you're doing so maybe that is the part of life as well that you can look back yeah and i don't think anyone actually no matter what you do have it completely figured out because i think you like you say you do need something to strive for and a purpose and to work towards something but at the same time just be aware of it and be aware of being being present and like appreciate all that you have and that's just such a because sometimes I think oh what what will be different like in this actual very very moment let's say I would have right now like 20 Grammys right and I would have a big big entourage wherever i go and um i would have i was i will i will be on the way to a stadium tour would would the rehearsal that i'm doing or sitting here right now talking would that be that much different it wouldn't it really wouldn't i still want it i still want it but But you just have to think like, would it be that, would it feel that different?

31:00Maybe from the, it would look different from the outside, but would it feel different for me? I don't think so. No, it really wouldn't. So I'm just happy in any setting, basically. Hey guys, I know that you're already listening to this and that is so kind. But if you haven't subscribed to this show, it does so much for us. I cannot even explain. It doesn't cost you anything. You just got to click the subscribe button wherever you're listening to this. And it means that we can continue to get amazing guests and make great shows. So if you can do that one favor for us, that would be absolutely amazing.

31:53No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. You're invited to spend an evening on Fremont Avenue. For generations, this house has been home to soulful music, good food, and cutthroat card games. Saints and sinners. unexpected laughs and unspoken truths good times hard times and of course family always family so pull up a chair and join us at fremont avenue a world premiere play only at arena stage performances start october 8th tickets at arenastage.org for a limited time at mcdonald's get a big mac extra value meal for eight dollars that means two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun and medium fries and a drink.

32:53We may need to change that jingle. Prices and participation may vary. Do you think you grew up pretty quickly? A part of me feels like I have not grown up.

33:09So no, I don't think so. You don't think so? No. But okay, there's two types of growing up. I understand what you're saying by... I didn't have to take a lot of responsibility and stuff. actually that's why a reason why i don't feel like i'm grown up because i'm like where are we going like i don't know like oh someone booked me a car like i'm just getting the car and they're like where are you going i'm like i don't know just like i guess you have the address to the driver and then i go out or someone meets me there and i'm like where do i go i don't know like that is so i was gonna say that you you things are all done for you in lots of ways so you don't grow up but but there's the other side of growing up which is almost maybe possibly not more important because that's, you know, learning to pay a bill, do the laundry or whatever.

33:53Those are sort of big lessons that you want to learn. But the big thing about growing up is like falling in love when you're young. That's true. And getting in arguments with your best friends at school because they've kissed the other person. Did you go into school dances? That emotional part, for sure. I've grown up with that. And I think it's also because I have been, even though I haven't gone to a lot of therapy, all of my friends have. So they're so good at communicating and they're so good at like just helping me realize things and see things. And maybe not even purposely. Sometimes they just take me there.

34:41I don't know. and then I have been through like my teenage my teenage years were very dramatic very um I was very like a destructive teenager why we did do a lot of family therapy actually when I was a teenager I was just a bad teenager I was just really wild I just did whatever I wanted to do I didn't listen to anyone I was just like it's weird to do that all the time i think she's broken

35:16we need to take her to the doctor like something's wrong because you were being rebellious because you thought you knew everything yeah very much that and you were having success as well so you're like screw you guys yeah maybe and your dad is a military man and so i i'm assuming i'm just guessing here but he he must be quite regimented and and he's very disciplined very disciplined And so then when your daughter and you're the eldest, it starts to maybe go a bit wild. That must be completely against. Yeah, but my mom, she's the matriarch. Like she, he can run whatever outside of the house. But in the house, my mom's like the one who decides things.

35:56But also my dad was away a lot. My dad wasn't really home like that. He was always on a mission or I don't know what he was doing. He was just gone pretty much. And so mom was just the one who like kept the fortress. And now when my parents, especially my dad, when they're older and he's not out and away all the time and he's grown really maybe sentimental. he's getting you know he's he's maybe you realize like I'm getting older and life is actually not that long it goes quick he really I think he realizes it's so important to have that good family relationship and bond and I feel like he's trying a lot to just have us all bond and like connect so he's definitely like a different man today than he was when I grew up and it's kind of cute it's it's cute to see him like love you and i'm like oh that's crazy like you know what i mean but i know he loves me because you didn't get that as much when you were younger i mean he loves us so much i think he has like a lot of men maybe also from that generation maybe had some difficulties like expressing that with the his words but he was uh always a fun dad you know when he was home and we will go and do really fun stuff and he will just take us, like he's like a fun dad, you know?

37:25But yeah, I've never doubted that he loved me or my sister or my mom. But it's also, I think growing up, you want that, for a child, I think the quantity is more important than the quality time. I completely agree with you. You just need to be there, you know? I couldn't agree with you more. my dad who's just great and also it's so funny because the way you're articulating it right is that you don't want to sound like you're being disloyal and so you're sort of and obviously I love my dad and you're being super respectful and all these different things which is great but if I could sort of relate it to me I played a lot of sport and I injured my knee I did an ACL ligament it was really bad when I was like 17 years old and my dad just turned up and he was very busy and he said oh he turned up and he dropped off a portable dvd player and he said here you go and i was like and then he went off but for him it was that was yeah i'm gonna show you how much i love you because i want you to have a good time with this good time and i hope that was just loads of porn imagine best gift ever thanks dad we should watch it together son imagine that it was not that but in his eyes because he's not great at expressing that was him expressing love and maybe he came from a family that didn't do that no they didn't you know with my parents it's like I know how they grew up and maybe in that time it was also just not something that you would maybe tell your kids or show your kids.

39:10My grandpa didn't do that. I know that for sure. Really? Yeah. Do you think that's where the constant... What do I know? Maybe we should go to therapy. I think we're doing it right now. Maybe, maybe, yeah. That's a classic, isn't it? You know what? I feel like it is. Yeah, there we go. I feel like it is. how do you how do you stay connected with your partner when you're away because that must be quite tricky right yeah i i feel like we're we both have quite flexible jobs or in the sense of that we don't have like a nine to five office kind of situation so he would come and see me um a little bit here and there i think uh facetime but like you said in the beginning you know when you just call someone on facetime sometimes i have that when it's like hey like what's up okay i gotta go and he's like no you don't you don't have to go like we can talk a little bit and then after 15 minutes when you actually get into a conversation that's when it's like oh and yeah and by the way i did this thing and then i saw this person and you know what he said you know and then we actually start to connect yeah so you just got to give yourself that time but it's fine and also if we don't speak every day i also know that we'll be fine but the more you talk to someone the more you want to talk to them and the the the more you're like oh i'm fine i'm living my life like i am living my life and i'm very busy but you do want to have that check in with each other and feel like but it's hard it is hard but this this tour isn't too bad it's um it's like a month and a half you know how many dates you doing now it's uh it's not too bad 16 it's gonna go by like this in the blink of an eye and then it's going to be over and then i'm doing the festivals and summer and then we'll just keep going for the rest of the world by you know the end of the year are you going to go to glastonbury when is that june i'm not booked but i i thought we were going to get an exclusive you know yeah yeah it's not too late it's not too late uh that would be amazing obviously it's like the biggest festival in the world and i've heard great things about it i've never been i've only been to their clean clean cousin coachella yeah that is yeah yeah i think that's a different vibe yeah no alcohol no no no boots wellies yeah yeah no rain if you have a camera you're allowed to come in.

41:47Right, right. Yeah. But we'll see. I would love to go. I mean, they always have amazing acts and a big variety of people too. Listen, if you want to come, excuse me, I can hook you up. I can hook you up.

42:04Your new album, Venus, is all about love. Yeah, pretty much. It feels from what I've just researched, you love love. I love love. Yeah, you really do. That's what makes the world go round. But it's amazing how much you love love to the point where, you know, I hear these stories. You have your boyfriend, you have your partner and you constantly say how much you love him. Oh, I love him. Yeah. I love him. He's so amazing. Yeah. And one of the songs on the album is about your sister. Yeah. Why is that? I just think she is such an important person in my life. I think love obviously could be very romantic and beautiful but she is such an incredible person an incredible friend and I hope if we weren't sister I would just have loved to have her as a close friend of mine I think she is just the most beautiful person and I could like dedicate a whole album to her i really could i've written songs about her before but i feel like that one was just it was fun it was good vibes i wanted to have her in the video and what is great because she's a singer also yeah and she's in a band the band is called lennox lennox yeah and all you're doing is promoting her you know and you know in a great way and i love that because sometimes you know we talk the problem with life is that we're constantly comparing and we're constantly especially in your industry, it's rivals all the time, but you don't care.

43:39And sometimes the sibling rivalry is really hard. Yeah, and I think from her, You don't have that at all. I mean, definitely, I don't have that at all. And from her side, no. No, I think it's tricky because, of course, she really appreciates when I'm sharing her music because also that gives her views and engagement and all of that. And that's what you want as an artist. You want people to listen to what you have made, of course. But then I think there's a fine line between like she wants to be your own person. Like I really had to convince her to be in the video for my song with David Guetta, like On My Love.

44:13Because she was just like, I just don't want to be your sister all the time. You know, it's like I want to be my own person, too. And I understand that. Although, sorry, you are going to be my sister for the rest of your life. that's just the way it is but i understand the feeling of of that being secondary uh like her as a person and her artistry and her being my sister would come first in other people's eyes um and i think that could feel i mean i can't speak for her but i i would understand where she will come from in that and like wanting to sympathize because she's younger so you sympathize because it's it's that's a it must be a bit of a tricky thing when you have an older sibling who's been so successful so long but doing things that you want to do and then and also wanting to be so proud and they look up to you but at the same time wanting your own path yeah and it took her some time to even just say hey i want to i want to do music i want to do this type of music i mean we we are very different in our genres and like the way we sing and how we write songs um but i have always been so it's been so obvious for me growing up it's been like it's showtime and uh i everybody's gonna look at me and she will be a little bit more shy she's such a perfectionist so if it wasn't like perfect in the start of the song she would she would redo it and then no no no let me redo it again let me redo it and i would just be like move aside like it's time for me now and then i would you know she would oh okay oh let me can i do it again she's just she's very different even though we are cut from like the same cloth she is our personalities are different and that must be fun like having kids and then seeing that even though you are raised by the same type of people and in the same environment it's like we are two very different people what is better do you think what in terms of creating music and making music you kind of just go yeah let's just go and do it i you know we're gonna get it right at some point bash or is that sort of perfectionist which i imagine you are a perfectionist lots of ways but I think do you have to be more of a risk taker I think a perfectionist being a perfectionist is it ever really good I mean obviously you want things to be as good as it can possibly be but like perfect that don't really exist so being a perfectionist and this is speaking in general not specifically about my sister but just being a perfectionist it's just setting yourself up for something impossible, I think.

46:52And then you don't allow yourself to evolve. Because I feel like the most exciting part about releasing an album, even though I'm super proud of Venus, I'm really happy with all the songs. I'm really excited about the tour. But the most exciting part is, oh my god, yes, now I can finally do something new. I can like move on and start a new chapter and make that even better and develop and evolve and you can't do that if you don't allow yourself to release stuff and i think it's a scare you're scared of failure yeah i think the biggest fear that always comes right with these situations is you think this is going to be it i'm going to reach it and then it's gone and people are gonna like or that this will define me forever this is it gonna define me forever yeah because with your last album some would say it wasn't as well received as you would have and that must be quite tricky sometimes but i kind of knew it wouldn't beef you know what i mean not that it wasn't not that it wasn't uh just as good as so good that i released previously but i just feel like um it was really really hard to live up to the the numbers and the commercial success of so good because the way we set up that album was basically just it was a collection of my singles and i had like what like seven singles or something it was just like a lot of singles and then we like put them all into one track and like one album added some really good songs to that and uh and called it a day and it was amazing and it was super well received because it was just hits on hits on hits on hits and then did you know when you when you put it up were you like was there was a part of you just going oh i just don't you mean poster girl yes yeah i just knew that to to reach the success like the commercial success and the numbers of so good it's gonna be really hard and i try to like fight that and just be like no it has to be better it has to be better it has to be better and i didn't even really know what i was looking for i was just looking for like that validation perhaps or that number or that like oh yeah how can you keep getting and you can't you can't no you can't do that and uh Life is an, I don't think life is like a straight up, like up, what do you call that?

49:07With a diagram just going straight up. Cool. An upward slope. Perhaps. Can't be. It's just an upward slope. An upward slope. Do you want me to give you the degree? What is that degree? I don't know. Is that like a 40 degree angle? You know, when you just keep going up, up, up, up. Life is not a 40 degree angle. Life is not. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down a bit. Upward trajectory. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But I think I just needed to release an album. I needed to get it out. And then so I could start with a new album. And then so I could start with a new album after that and a new album after that.

49:45And I think you can't be blinded. I've realized that now. And I think I'm still in the process of like, really, really feeling it. But why am I doing this? I'm doing it because I love it and I'm doing it because I like to perform and I like to write songs and I like to sing that is really why I'm doing it and then everything that comes with it it's it's amazing and it's beautiful and it's fantastic but I can't do it only because I want to see like big numbers it's like it's the greatest job in the world yeah but also the hardest job in the world yeah because if you're a dentist or a doctor or a librarian or what you know you no one's judging you know you give one unless you die unless you kill them then you're definitely judged yeah in court yeah you're judged in court but you know what i mean if you give someone a bad dental with a hygiene they go away they can make but no one ever well you know in in the industry that when you when you put yourself out there into the atmosphere to be judged by your fans by your critics whoever it is of course there are going to be negative and there's and and if you don't as you said if you don't hit the same numbers as you did before then straight away well it's not it it's not the same success and you're like and don't get me wrong like i still want that success of course and i think that's because you're competitive yeah i am yeah and if you just keep doing it like the more you do it the harder you work the luckier you'll get you know if you keep doing it you do your chance of getting lucky and having another like hit or getting a number one will obviously increase like you can't get a number one if you don't release any songs what's your favorite song on the new album if you had to pick i love ammunition how does that how does that give me give me give me ammunition kiss me kiss me it's just like a Sing that one time was it?

51:46Okay it starts like this You know my situation Why you acting like you can't be patient All I'm hearing from you lately What? Monogamy so fucking dated Boys like you love fantasy Anime know that ain't me It's just like it's a vibe It's cool The choreo's really nice the it's like the drums are really nice um it's it's really just a great pop song with a little bit of a flavor to it like danger who did the drums is such a legend has done so many amazing hits um what do you mean about monogamy is dated though well that's what he's saying that's what he's saying he's saying that oh my god this is great like what do you mean yeah you don't want me i want to give us a shot please give me ammunition yeah yeah that's the song when you were recording you were like yeah yeah i love that i love all the songs on the record and i feel like the more you listen to it the more you feel it and especially i definitely gave myself uh some ballads on this record which is nice and also just some space to be a little agile with the vocals because your vocals your vocals are insane right and so you just so what because you gave your space to go right i'm gonna go for it sometimes with pop songs because there is a big part of a pop song is like the production and it's very um a pop song is usually quite like perfect with the um the production and the drums and everything just sounds like sleek you know it's clean it's like and then the you you might forget that whoever's singing the song is actually quite talented as a singer because it just blends in with everything really nicely and I think when you strip that off a little bit and you get to focus on the vocals that's when you really appreciate someone's voice but I like both I mean I am such a performer who loves to dance as well like it wouldn't be a Zara Larson show if I didn't bring some dancers and had a little dance break and had a custom change and like the show of it but also I am a singer like I sing because you know just singing then that was acapella no it wasn't all that I really like go off there's no reverb in this mic no that was that was that was we can put some in that was just so because your voice is amazing and you're right maybe as a pop singer it's sing dance and this and that but actually the vocals are also there yes which is amazing and it's like that's why I think sometimes speaking of Beyonce again but like people people forget who aren't like big big fans of her that she's like a real vocalist because she has all this like lights and the costumes and the dancing she she is she's got a voice she's got a voice and I've got a voice someone is getting fired someone is getting that was beyonce on stage

55:28unbelievable hey sorry listen we um we love to end the podcast with eight questions yeah are you ready for this okay you can answer them as quickly or as slow as you want okay okay number one what's a saying or phrase that always makes you smile or cheers you up this one's really hard what do people say on this oh some people just say I mean they say anything I mean my laughter that cheers me at all someone comes out with a quote like I don't know it's this too shall pass I like the show sold out

56:05man yeah yeah freaking great love that best compliment anyone's ever given you oh this is hard because I get a lot of compliments

56:19compliments but honestly though like in the sense of it's not normal it's not normal to get that many compliments it could be like you're a good singer like i like your jacket or you have like someone waiting for you outside of a radio station like i love you like you know but i think it for me any compliment that comes from someone that i truly truly care about in my life my sister she's quite a big critic of mine and she's honest and she's not rude about it but i know she will never sugarcoat anything but if she says i i love that i love this song or i love i loved when he did this that's when i know it really comes from the heart so whatever any compliment from hannah yeah what scares you the most about yourself um maybe not about myself but about life that i want to do so many things i know i'll never have the time for and that made me shudder as well like i read a quote and this isn't i don't think this is uh it's not like a direct quote but it's something along the lines of i sometimes i feel the bones crushing under the weight of all the lives i haven't lived and that's just like damn i want to do so many things i want to i want to be a backpacker in asia yeah i want to be a helicopter pilot i want to be a diver i want to be a teacher i want to be what are you gonna teach Anything Yeah I just want to stand there with the long You want to do physics?

58:07You want to teach physics? Yeah I think like teaching That is kind of like performing Yeah but you're just connecting Exactly I totally get it Yeah I get it When was the last time you cried? Yesterday when I listened to 16 carriages

58:25What's something you can't let go of? i'm such a creature i fixate on a lot of different things and specifically food so right now it's the mushroom dumplings from you atcha i know yeah i know exactly really good yeah and it's weird it's to the point where it's like are they really that good or am i just am i insane because i have them every single day no exceptions if they deliver to me if it's close enough to deliver I'll have them every day it's weird and I'll know I'll have them to the point where I'm like I never want to have them again and then I'll go on to something else and I'll only have that sounds like an addiction what's something you'd be embarrassed for people to know you like or want?

59:17nothing yeah that is the greatest answer nothing there's no guilt and the pleasure that's great what turns you off

59:31I mean I'm trying to think of something that isn't like the obvious like oh when someone hasn't showered for a week like you know what I mean like obviously or

59:46critics anything like that not really oh not really I want more haters i didn't think you're gonna get that you want that just a few because that truly means like if you have a lot of haters you also have a lot of lovers true and the haters are really dedicated people because if someone is indifferent to you that's actually worse i think if someone's like i i genuinely don't care like i don't care but if someone's like i hate this person i'm going to check every interview and every performance and every song and every like that is really a fan and they're sometimes even more dedicated than they're real fans i love that what turns you on um

1:00:37when someone is funny yeah that's a great thing it really is like if you can't make me laugh or when someone when someone doesn't take themselves which is all also a turnoff when someone takes themselves really serious i'm like get out of my fucking face and if someone's like hey i don't take myself that serious they have to say that to you that's what i have to do what no wait what do you like most about yourself? I like that I am very I'm very much like in the moment and that I don't dwell on things. You just move through it. You get through it. Yeah. It's the best way to be. Yeah. 100 % don't dwell.

1:01:30Let's get through this. Okay. And for a bonus, what's your favorite swear word? Fuck. Classic. I love that. Straight down the line. You can just put it anywhere. Like where? It's such a good... Okay, the band, like fucking... Oh, so fucking fun to be in this fucking studio. Fuck, it's so fucking amazing. So thank you so much. Thank you. That was amazing. I appreciate it. It's fucking amazing. It's fucking amazing. See you later. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. That energy felt pretty good. Yeah. She's like sunshine. Yeah, she's incredible. Really lovely. Really, really, really, really like her.

1:02:15I mean, just also just with Zara, which I like, is that I love her passion. I love how driven she is. I love how open and vulnerable she is. And what is so incredible about that is that you do forget. She talked about the fact that she, you know, she's never really had to do anything for herself. She's driven to places. She's picked up from places. She's dropped off at places. So it's interesting to understand that mentality of like, how do you become an adult if everything is done for you? Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, I remember Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man, spoke about that in an interview once where he never ever paid.

1:02:49He had a huge problem because he never paid his water bill because he had never ever done that before. So he didn't know you had to. Oh, wow. So, you know, when you're if you never learn these things and how do you know you have to do them? Yeah. Very open to share that as well, because it's a bit embarrassing. True. I mentioned Beyonce. You did mention Beyonce and we did get a bit emotional about Beyonce. The love. And she loves love. She loves love. And she's in love. And she is deeply in love. Yeah. And I just, yeah, she just is someone who you can tell loves what they do. Any notes on it from your side?

1:03:23Any notes? Hmm. If you have to think about it, that means no. Yeah. I can't, not off the top of my head. That's good news. But you are getting better and better every week. If you haven't subscribed to the show, please, please do. It means the world to us. And also you can follow us and DM us on social media at Great Company Podcast to slide into our DMs and we'll reply. And we love the fact that you're listening. Jemima, producer. Hello. Thank you so much. Oh, goodbye. No, well, yeah, it is. Goodbye. Goodbye until next week. Until next week. We'll see you later. Thank you for listening to Great Company.

1:04:12Hello everyone, we're Jamie and Sophie. You may remember us from Nearlyweds and then Newlyweds. But now guys, things are about to get even wilder as we take on our biggest adventure yet, becoming parents. Yeah, that's right. Newlyweds is now Nearly Parents and we're bringing you the same honest, heartwarming takes on our journey to parenthood, I guess. Join us as we find out what it really means to become a family while trying not to kill each other. Get ready for Nearly Parents, your favourite new podcast.