We’re only a few weeks away from the release of Zara Larsson‘s long-long-awaited second album – and, pleasingly, it sounds like she’s really embracing the pop-ness of it all.

The still-only-23-years-old artiste has long been established as a wonderful talent, and her recent run of singles – Ruin My Life, All The Time, Love Me Land etc – has kept the quality consistently high. Not all of those songs have made it to the Poster Girl tracklist, but it sounds like we’re definitely moving towards a more effervescent, outwardly upbeat record than debut So Good.

Speaking to CLASH, she said: “I feel I have way more control creatively over this album, so I allowed it to be way more pop and dancey, because I fucking love pop.

“It’s still the same old me, but I’ve just taken myself a notch up. If you liked So Good, I think you will like this album a lot. It’s way more fun and if it helps people through these times then I think that is what’s really important.”

Speaking of her influences, it sounds like she’s learning from the best: “I’ve really been inspired by Swedish pop legends like ABBA, Roxette, Robyn – I’ve definitely been proud of my pop heritage.

“One thing I realised is that, for me, pop has always been a form of escapism. Now we got Tik Tok, we got Instagram, and algorithms that suck you in and take you away from reality, but growing up, pop was my form of escapism and it always has been.

“I would look in the mirror and pretend I was somewhere else, that I was someone else. I think it’s very tied to me wanting to entertain people.”

Count me the fuck in!!

Poster Girl is out on March 5.