Last year, Swedish pop star Zara Larsson went viral on TikTok for her single "Symphony," a collaboration with British electronic group Clean Bandit from 2017. The internet found comfort in pairing her soaring vocals with colorful dolphin graphics and their dark confessions. Today, she's returned with a new single that might break her recent meme-notoriety. It's called "Pretty Ugly" and follows the rise of misbehaving pop star manifestos that hit an all time high with last year's BRAT.
"They tell me to be nice, I should know my place / Sometimes a girl don't wanna be well-behaved," she sings on the pre-chorus. It leads to an edgy cheer session for the chorus with zapping synths and a sassy snapping beat. “Have you ever seen a pretty girl get ugly like this? / Messy like this? / Losing her shit?” Larsson shouts over a '90s house beat. The track was produced by Margo XS and MNEK. It was written by Larsson alongside MNEK, Helena Gao, and Margo Wildman.
The new single also comes with visual directed by Charlotte Rutherford that's both pretty in pink with plenty of mud. Larsson and friends dance and cheer around a muddy field. A huge speaker wall blasts Larsson onto a field, where she and her cheer companions dance, push, and trip over each other with a messy girl ferocity.
Watch the video for "Pretty Ugly" below.
lets get zara larsson out of that khia asylum rn coz this smash hard https://t.co/qrmLEymy31
— kanishk (@kaxishk) April 25, 2025
