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- May 25, 2023
Zara Larsson Channels 80s Synth in New Electro-Pop Single Alongside High Energy Music Video
International superstar Zara Larsson dropped the single ‘Can’t Tame Her’ teasing what’s to come from her third studio album Can’t Tame Her. The album will mark Larsson’s first release with Sommer House label and Epic/Black Butter Records.
The single is unique in its own 80s synth blend backing the track, but the high-energy nature of the track is reminiscent of Larsson’s past hits such as ‘Lush Life’, and ‘Ain’t My Fault’ to anthemic Clean Bandit collaboration ‘Symphony.’
The lyrics come in just as hard as the tracking they lay over; the verses are characterized by the awe-inspiring and alluring nature of the song’s subject “Ain’t the first time ’cause I’ve seen her before/Smell her perfume as she walks through the door/I wanna know, where the hell will she go?/Nobody knows, nobody-nobody knows.”
Following the suspenseful verses is a chorus meant to be sung to crowds with its call and response esq-writing “No, you can’t tame the girl/’Cause she runs her own world/So if she wants to party all night (all night)/No, you can’t tame her, no.”
The song comes to a fever pitch over the bridge as Larsson goes into detail about this mysterious woman who exudes nothing but confidence and ambition before making a slight Cyndi Lauper reference “Can’t tame her magic energy/She’s so magnetic, pulls you in every time (every time)/Every time (every time)/But she don’t care, she gonna do what she wants (she wants/Because she never needed any reason (reason)/Yeah, she a girl and she just wanna have fun, ooh-ooh.”
The music video dropped alongside the single once again proves that Larsson can storytell sonically and visually. The music video portrays Larsson in two different ways, first as the subject of the song and second, as the speaker of the song. As the second version of Larsson enters an elevator, she meets her girls-gone-bad doppelganger before putting a psychedelic flower on her tongue.
As the drug’s effects kick in, the music begins to play, and the camera zooms and spins around a singing Larsson (the one who took the flower) as she begins to sing about a woman who doesn’t bend to anyone else’s whims. Viewers are then taken to an empty black setting where only the daring and bold version of Larsson gives off a glowing aura around her dances freely while surrounded by mossy fixtures.
The video highlights themes of female empowerment and freedom. The scenes in the garden with Larsson dancing, in particular, embody the song’s themes of being in touch with the untamed and free spirit and not needing anyone as Larsson singles over the scenes, “Said she gonna party all night (all night)/And you can’t change her/Can’t blame her, can’t tame her.”
As the song’s second verse comes in, Larsson exits the elevator and finds herself walking through a high-tech fairy garden where other people linger about with glowing red mouths or hanging around the vines and flowers that decorate the walls. The scenes are intercut with clips of blooming flowers, Larsson lying on the elevator floor laughing at her hands, and various people in the garden with her. The choppy nature of the editing adds to the song’s high-energy beat.
The music video’s last sequence includes Larsson dancing through a fluorescent orange hall with visual effects that make viewers feel the disorientation and hazy mindset Larsson is experiencing in the video. Soon Larsson reunites with the free-spirited version of herself she met in the elevator at the video’s start. They dance together before embracing as the song comes to a conclusion.
Make sure to stream ‘Can’t Tame Her’ on available streaming platforms and follow Larsson on all social media platforms in order to stay up to date on any announcements.
