Poster Girl is the third studio album by Swedish singer and songwriter Zara Larsson. It was released internationally on 5 March 2021 by TEN Music Group and Epic Records. Recording sessions for the album began in 2018 and continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. Poster Girl is primarily a Scandipop, pop and dance record with elements of 80s synth-pop and disco.
Poster Girl was supported by the release of five singles; "Ruin My Life", "Love Me Land", "Wow", "Talk About Love" and "Look What You've Done". The album received generally positive reviews from music critics upon its release, with critics mainly complimenting its production. Commercially, the album debuted at number three on the Swedish Albums Chart, twelve on the UK Albums Chart, and reached the top twenty in several nations. Larsson embarked on the Poster Girl Tour in November 2021 to promote the album. A version of the album subtitled Summer Edition was released on 21 May 2021, and contains six additional recordings.
Composition Poster Girl is a Scandipop, pop, and dance record without ballads, incorporating a production influenced by 1980s synths and R&B. Its lyrical content "explore[s] the best and worst parts of pop music's bread and butter: love". It was additionally described as "both a break-up album and a loved-up celebration of a new romance", as well as "weaving themes of unrequited devotion and sobering flits of romantic toxicity into near scientifically engineered pop songs".
Songs The opener "Love Me Land" is a dance-pop song built around a "pulsing, string-led" beat. "Talk About Love" is an R&B-styled song with a "mellow" feel, which, lyrically, is about the "phase before two people work out what they are to one another". "Need Someone" is a "glistening", midtempo tune, which has an "airy, easy-going vibe", but builds into a "much funkier, bigger anthem", and, musically, has a bassline reminiscent of Tame Impala's "The Less I Know the Better" and a "twinkly" piano line. "Right Here" is about a wondering of why she tries to get the attention of someone who "keeps his eyes on the screen", and references Swedish artist Robyn. "Wow" is an electro and EDM song produced by Marshmello, which has a "bold" bassline and "addictive" vocals. The album's title track is about Zara "feeling out of character as she develops a crush", backed by "glittery" disco production. "I Need Love" is a tropical pop song, that has been described as a "soulful bop", which includes the lyrics: "like an addict needs a drug". "Look What You've Done" is a disco-tinged, breakup track which bears resemblance to the music of ABBA.
"Ruin My Life" is a "faintly masochistic", pop song, which, in Larsson's words, is about "that unhealthy relationship that everyone has at one point in their life". Instrumentation-wise, it is accompanied by an electric guitar and keyboard, and its chorus is "swimming" with synths and a "danceable" drum track. "Stick with You", co-written by Max Martin, has a guitar sound paired with a "driving", electronic beat and sees Larsson's vocal with a "slight country twang". "FFF" (shorthand for "Falling for a Friend") is "playful", though "explicit"; its refrain is reminiscent of Italian classic "Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano". Vocals with similarity to Dua Lipa, on the song, sing: "Is there a spark for us?/Or is it just purely platonic?/Is this our story arc?/'Cause if it are, it'd be iconic". The album closes with "What Happens Here" has a story of self-assurance and is a "Carly Rae Jepsen-sized euphoric" song, in which she sings: "I'ma do it 'cause it's what I want… To be honest, I don't give no fucks".
Release and promotion Larsson shared Poster Girl album cover on 8 January 2021 and revealed the track listing on social media on 10 February. To promote the record, Larsson held an online concert on 8 March for International Women's Day, in partnership with IKEA and presented by Live Nation.
The deluxe edition entitled the "Summer Edition" was released on 21 May, including two new songs and multiple new versions of past songs. To celebrate its release, she held a virtual album release party on Roblox that day, with reruns airing throughout that weekend. Larsson embarked on the Poster Girl Tour in support of the album in November.
Singles Poster Girl was preceded by the lead single "Ruin My Life", released on 18 October 2018. It charted in multiple countries, reaching the top ten in Israel, United Kingdom, Ireland and her native Sweden, peaking at number two. Many standalone singles and collaborations followed between 2018 and 2020, including "Don't Worry Bout Me" and "All the Time". Both songs were later included on the album's Japanese deluxe edition.
The second single "Love Me Land" arrived on 10 July 2020, peaking at number eight and later being certificated Gold in Sweden. The previously released promotional single "Wow" made a resurgence in popularity after being featured on the 2020 Netflix original movie Work It, which led to Larsson releasing the track as a single. A remix featuring the film's lead actress Sabrina Carpenter was unveiled on 25 September 2020 with its own music video premiering on 7 October. Another single, "Talk About Love" featuring American rapper Young Thug came out on 8 January 2021 with the album's pre-order. "Look What You've Done" was released on 22 February 2021.
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised to reviews from professional publications, Poster Girl has an average score of 72 out of 100, based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".
Writing for NME, Nick Levine described the album as a "catchy and characterful" one, that "feels like a job well done", while DIY's Emma Swann called the album "pure pop escapism". Robin Murray of Clash wrote that Poster Girl is "not all perfect", but an "entertaining" album. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times described the songs as "nimble and breezy", though said that the album "leaves one impatient for more". Pitchfork criticized its dated production, clichéd lyrics, and lack of artistic identity, describing Larsson as difficult to distinguish from the album's influences.
Track listing
Personnel Performers
Zara Larsson – vocals Jason Gill – all instruments (1) Mattman & Robin – all instruments (3, 4) Noonie Bao – background vocals (3) Sarah Aarons – background vocals (3) Julia Michaels – background vocals (4) Marshmello – programming (5) Starsmith – all instruments (7) Chris Laws – drums (8) John Parricelli – guitar (8) Steve Mac – keyboards (8) Brittany Amaradio – background vocals (9) Jackson Foote – programming (9) Michael Pollack – piano (9) The Monsters & Strangerz – programming (9) A Strut – all instruments (10) Max Martin – background vocals (10) Fatmax Gsus – guitar (10) James Wong – synthesizer, guitar and drum programming (14)
Technical
Emerson Mancini – mastering engineer Serban Ghenea – mixing engineer (1–4, 6, 7, 10, 15–16) Manny Marroquin – mixing engineer (5, 14) Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing engineer (8) Tony Maserati – mixing engineer (9) Rafael Fadul – mixing engineer (13) Lotus IV – mixing engineer (16) John Hanes – engineer (1–4, 6, 7, 10, 15–16) Jonathan Winner – engineer (6) Sam Homaee – engineer (6) Chris Laws – engineer (8) Dann Pursey – engineer (8) Ian Kirkpatrick – engineer (11) Bart Schoudel – vocal engineer (2, 3), recording engineer (4) Mattman & Robin – vocal engineer (3, 4) Hampus Lindvall – vocal engineer (7), recording engineer (9) Billy Hicks – recording engineer (12) Gian Stone – recording engineer (13) DJ Riggins – assistant engineer (2) Jacob Richards – assistant engineer (2) Mike Seaberg – assistant engineer (2) Robert N. Johnson – assistant engineer (5)
Artwork Ryder Ripps – creative and art direction Michaela Quan – photographer Jordan Rossi – photographer Karen Clarkson – stylist Sofia Sinot – make-up Ali Pirzadeh – hair
Charts
Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance Chart (2021) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) 59 Lithuanian Albums (AGATA) 82 Spanish Albums (Promusicae) 59
Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance Chart (2021) Position Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 30
Certifications
Release history + Release dates and formats Region Date Version Format(s) Label Various 5 March 2021 Standard United Kingdom CD Black Butter United States Target edition Epic Japan 10 March 2021 Japanese edition Germany 26 March 2021 Standard Vinyl Various 23 April 2021 Sony Various 21 May 2021 Summer edition Sweden Swedish summer edition TEN Various 9 July 2021 Summer edition re-issue Sweden Swedish summer edition re-issue TEN
References