Warta Kema – Pop music has been crawling in everyone’s ears ever since it was created. From Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s to Taylor Swift in the 2020s, everyone has been listening to pop music. Nonetheless, being a pop artist is not as easy as it may seem. Several artists have been building their career for years but did not get their big break until years after their debut. To take an example, let’s talk about Zara Larsson.

Zara Larsson is a Swedish pop singer whose single, “Lush Life,” became popular back in 2015. Later in 2024, her collaboration with Clean Bandit, “Symphony,” went viral because of a meme on TikTok. She then came back with a new single, “Midnight Sun”, in the summer of 2025, while utilising her rising meme’s aesthetic. Zara Larsson’s latest album, “Midnight Sun,” was later released in September 2025, making it eligible to be nominated in the 2027 Grammy Awards.

Yet later in 2026, Zara Larsson was in the talks for the Best New Artist nomination for the 2027 Grammy Awards despite her years being in the industry. In her interview with Perfect Magazine, the Swedish pop star stated that her past label, Epic Records, offered to put her in the Best New Artist nomination for the next Grammys. The offer was immediately put down by Zara Larsson herself, saying that she does not even want that and the nomination is just going to turn down her 13 years of career in music.

A similar case also happened to other artists before. For instance, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short ‘n Sweet” is considered her “debut” after it came out in 2024, even though she debuted back in 2015. Sabrina Carpenter was even nominated as Best New Artist for the 2025 Grammy Awards despite her years of experience in the music industry. Carpenter’s “Espresso” became big and was called “song of the summer” in 2024, hence the new recognition from the society. After the release of “Short ‘n Sweet”, Sabrina Carpenter released “Manchild” as the first single of “Man’s Best Friend” which later when released went popular among her fans, the Carpenters, and casual music listeners.

Both Zara Larsson and Sabrina Carpenter debuted in the early 2010s, but their “break” happened later in the 2020s. Even though Zara Larsson’s “Lush Life” became a hit when it came out, her name seeped through other artists’ names until “Midnight Sun” went popular after its release in 2025. While in Carpenter’s case, she was already famous as a child actor in a show called “Girl Meets World.” Yet she then became more popular in the music industry after her album “Short ‘n Sweet” was released.

After years of climbing the ladder in the industry, both pop stars finally got the recognition that they deserved. Nonetheless, the public, in this case the Grammys, still views Zara Larsson and Sabrina Carpenter as new artists in the industry. Society may need to look out for other awards’ nominations. Hence the question, is the singer freshly debuted, or have they just changed their brand into something new?

Writer : Alana Saraswati

Editor : Fernaldhy Rossi Armanda, Khayla Dinda Pradwina, Elga Thalita Perangin Angin