Zara Larsson revisits her outspoken Swedish blogging years

A fast-moving Popcast excerpt explains why Swedish audiences knew her as a public personality as well as a singer.

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Popcast Story of October 20, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 87,013 views a day, 25 times a normal first day on this channel (3,511).

Zara Larsson explains her Swedish lore: “You either loved me or you hated me”

Music was only half of it. Zara Larsson tells Popcast that while American listeners were getting to know her songs, Swedish audiences also knew the outspoken blogger who ended up debating people in newspapers and on television.

The excerpt drew about 69,000 views in its first 15 hours, already far beyond the channel's usual full-day audience for a Short. It gives a different piece of Larsson's backstory from the musical influences explored in another clip from the interview.

Speaking with hosts Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica, Larsson recalls running a blog before releasing her music. She had already appeared on a talent show as a child; later, she says, the blog and her music took off together in Sweden.

"I was this very polarizing person. You either hated me or you loved me," she says. Her recollection is of a public identity built partly through arguments, not just performances.

But she also makes room for silliness. "I take joy seriously, you know?" That line has become a talking point in the comments, alongside viewers' interest in her teenage blogging years and memories of discovering her music early.

For Larsson, these are not competing versions of herself. She says American audiences are catching up with the combination Sweden already knew: musician and personality.

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What viewers say

oh no way i take joy seriously too
@crazyman91726See it on YouTube
In TV for running a polarizing blog at 15 is so interesting
@manuela2618See it on YouTube
I remember this era, no one was into her in the US like me
@oldasyouromensSee it on YouTube

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