Zara Larson, Madison Beer, and Pink Panthers are all at similar stages in their careers where people know who they are. They know their songs, but they haven’t fully gone mainstream yet. I feel like they are so close though, and I so badly want them each to have breakthrough moments. So, why haven’t they been able to? For this episode of the Bop Bible, I’m going to talk about why each of these pop girls haven’t become main pop girls yet and how I think they could reach that status.
Before I get into it, if you’re new here, welcome. Thank you so much for deciding to tune into this episode today, make sure that if you enjoy it to rate the podcast five stars and follow it on whatever platform you’re using. And if you’re not new, welcome back. Thank you for deciding to tune in again. So, I feel like having excellent vocals and constantly serving coro is a combination that pop music fans are obsessed with and this is a combination that Zara Larson always delivers with her performances. Now, Zara is at a very
interesting point in her career because she has had the big mainstream hits. I mean, Lush Life, Ain’t My Fault, Symphony, Never Forget You, those were all huge hits in Europe, like massive number one hits, and Never Forget You even was a big crossover hit into the US as well.
Summer 2016 in particular is an era that people always refer to as just having great pop music, and Zara Larson was one of the artists at the forefront of that with songs like Symphony and Lush Life. Now, after these songs though, Zara turned into an artist who the gays always admired, but she has been severely underappreciated ever since.
And that is just crazy to me because after a moment like her 2015 to 2017 run, she should be a main pop girl. I mean, there was a moment in time when her album So Good was the second most streamed album by a female artist on Spotify. And that just really goes to show that she was having hit after hit. Now, there are two reasons I feel like she wasn’t able to fully break through with this album.
And by fully breakthrough, I mean like everybody just knows her name, knows who she is, and knows her just beyond the music. And one of those reasons is despite her success in Europe, a lot of her songs weren’t able to chart high in the US. And that just really goes to show that the US is tasteless.
Because what do you mean? Symphony and Lush Life were not top 10 hits. Symphony actually didn’t even chart in the US and Lush Life struggled to make the top 70. Her most successful song in the US has been Never Forget You, which peaked at number 13. So, it was very close to the top 10. And I’m so happy that that song was able to have big crossover success into the US.
But yeah, it is just insane to me that Lush Life and Symphony were not able to have the success that Never Forget You had. I guess it makes sense in a way because Zara is from Sweden, so her primary target market was not North America, but she had everything it took to be a star at the time.
Like insane stage presence, vocals, just the ITG girl quality that we love to see in a main pop girl. She would promote herself all over Europe during this time with performances and interviews. So, I think maybe just a lack of promotion in the US caused people here to not fully know who she was. Now, another reason I feel like she wasn’t fully able to break through was that she did wait kind of a long time to drop her follow-up to her 2017 album So Good.
Her next album, Poster Girl, didn’t come out until 2021, so 4 years later. And there was a long time between that album’s lead single and the album drop. She dropped the lead single, Ruin My Life, in 2018. So, there was a whole 3 years between that lead single and the release of Poster Girl. And this wasn’t her original plan.
Like, I remember she delayed this album multiple times because it just wasn’t where she wanted it to be. But I think that just resulted in a lot of people forgetting about her sadly. But fast forward four years and it seems like she could be entering another big mainstream moment. Zara started her Midnight Sun album era this year with the lead single, Pretty Ugly.
Now, this lead single immediately was a new direction for Zara. I mean, the song is very fun and messy and she’s shouting in the chorus, and it’s kind of like a song that you wouldn’t expect to work well, but it does. Now, I feel like the song might have been a bit too different for the general public to just understand, and I strongly believe it should have been a song of the summer contender.
Like, I love that song so much, but it just did not succeed commercially. Now, this had me a bit worried for this era, not going to lie, because I love Zara Larson, and every time she drops new music, I’m like, uh, I hope she becomes a main pop girl now. And I was really hoping for that with Pretty Ugly, but it just didn’t happen at the time of its release.
What really started the hype for this new era was the second single Zara released for the album, which was the title track Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun is a fun summery dance pop song with Jersey elements that Zara wrote about summers in Sweden and how the sun never goes down. The visuals for this song went along with that concept perfectly and was really the kickstart for Zara going viral this summer.
Now, about a year ago, Zara was having a pretty big viral moment with her song Symphony. And for some reason, people were sharing that song with these images of dolphins and the images would just have some sort of caption on them that didn’t really make sense at all. But the song was having a huge moment because of that.
Now, immediately after that meme took off, Zara started including dolphin visuals in her live performances. And I think that was such a smart move to get people to associate that viral meme with Zara’s music. And she took that even further with the Midnight Sun video. The Midnight Sun music video is bright and colorful and just clearly inspired by those viral dolphin visuals.
This video really started the aesthetic of the era and Zara has remained consistent with this aesthetic with even more visuals and with her styling for the era as well. I mean just take her VMA’s look as an example. Like she was the best dress of the night in my opinion. She was serving tropical flower goddess and it just went along perfectly with the whole midnight sun aesthetic.
It just showed that she developed a clear branding for this era and it was branding that made sense. Like everything about the Midnight Sun era feels very Zara and not inauthentic at all. In an interview with Range magazine, Zara said, “I feel like this is the first proper album roll out that I’ve ever had.
This album is the first time that I’ve had a concrete plan and vision on how I want to do things.” And that right there is the reason why she’s having so much viral success with Midnight Sun. It really is Zara’s first album that you can tell had a clear plan from the beginning. I mean, every single album Zara released beforehand had just too long of a roll out with the lead single followed by the album a year or sometimes longer later.
But with Midnight Sun, she released Pretty Ugly. Two months later, released Midnight Sun. Two months after that, released another single, Crush. And then the next month, the album Midnight Sun comes out. Now, another moment that helped this era really shine was Zara opening up for Tate McCrae, on the So Close to What Arena tour.
There was a lot of controversy about this online with people being like, “Why is Zara opening up for Tate? It should be the other way around.” But you guys, Tate McCrae was the perfect artist for Zara to open up for. Yeah, Zara has been around for a long time, but Zara in this moment would not be able to do a North American arena tour.
So, Tate McCrae having this big tour and Zara opening up for her was just a great way for her to get exposure in front of a whole new audience. She was performing in front of a lot of people who knew her songs, but up until now never really connected the songs to Zara. Tate’s audience also just loves and appreciates coro, which is something that Zara always delivers with every single performance.
So Tate’s audience was just bound to appreciate Zara as an opener. It was also just a great way for people to find out that Zara can sing. I mean, I saw so many viral posts with people being like, “Wait, Zara can sing like this? How did I not know this?” Every single show of that tour, had multiple viral posts of Zara’s performance, and it was just great promo leading into the album.
Midnight Sun, the album, debuted with 3.8 8 million streams on Spotify in its first day, which yeah, that’s not an insanely high debut. But let’s not forget Sabrina Carpenter’s album, Emails I Can’t Send, had a very similar debut back in 2022. Emails I can’t Send ended up having a long era due to Sabrina just touring it non-stop.
And I think the same thing is going to happen with Midnight Sun. Zara is about to go on her own tour next year, and I can already see her being one of the most viral artists when that tour is happening. I mean, we saw how viral she went with Tate McCrae’s tour. So, imagine what’s going to happen with her own tour. And she’ll be touring right in time for summer 2026.
So, that’ll just give Midnight Sun, the album, even more time to really shine in summer 2026. Midnight Sun is really Zara’s most cohesive album yet. And I think this is because she found a solid group of just three collaborators. Helena Gao, Margot XS, and Emman K. Emin K actually executive produced the album. And Zara and Em working on the entire Midnight Sun album was one of the best things to happen in pop music this year.
They’ve worked on some of Zara’s best songs together. Never Forget You, Ain’t My Fall, Can’t Tame Her. So with M and K executive producing the entire album, we were bound to get an album full of pop bangers. There are so many single worthy songs on this album. There’s Euro Summer, Hot and Sexy, Girls Girls.
So next year is just bound to be Zara Larson’s year with this album full of songs that could be singles. Like I said, Zara’s tour will really help her next year, but I think a bigger moment like Coachella would be so beneficial for Zara. She’s the type of artist who would gain so many fans from Coachella because people know her name.
They’ve likely seen viral posts from the Tate McCrae tour. So, people would go to her set. So, yeah, I think a Coachella moment really would have been nice for this era, but sadly Zara is not on the lineup. But it’s okay. we are still going to make her breakthrough happen. The next pop girl I want to talk about is Pink Panther who actually just recently dropped a remix to her song Stateide featuring Zara Larson and it is such a good song.
Like they are serving Rihanna good girl gone bad energy and I so badly need that song to become a hit. But yeah, let’s get into Pink Panthers. I feel like Pink Panther is at a very similar point Charlie XCX was at before she released Brat. Pink Panthers has gained a core fan base and has had viral success, but she’s really only had one big mainstream hit, which was Boys a Liar featuring Ice Spice.
That song was really big worldwide. So, people know Pink Panther, but she’s been at an interesting stage where she had that massive song, but has just not been able to have a moment like that again. I feel like this is because she has such an experimental bedroom pop sound that could take a while for people to understand.
This reminds me a lot of Charlie because when Charlie released Vroom Vroom after having mainstream success with Boom Clap, people didn’t really understand it right away. If Charlie released Vroom Vroom now in 2025, it would become a top 10 hit. And that’s because people understand Charlie’s direction now. But at the time, it was just so different from Boom Clap that the general public just didn’t get it.
That song was very important for Charlie’s career because it gave her a solid gay fan base that always supported her when she was an underground artist, but she just was no longer targeting the masses. Like, she was doing something totally different. And a lot of people just didn’t really understand that until almost 10 years later when she released Brat.
So, with Pink Panther, I feel like we’re seeing that similar thing where you can’t go full-on experimental and have it go mainstream right away. She got really lucky with Boys a Liar, and that song kind of pairing up with Ice Spice’s viral success at the time is really what made it massive. But Pink Panther’s vibe as a pop girl is very different, so it could take a while for people to fully understand it.
Pink Panthers is starting to have a lot of viral success again with her recent mixtape Fancy That, which has been such a fun era so far. Her song Illegal became one of the most viral trends of the year with the lyric My Name is Pink and It’s Very Nice to Meet You. And even though that song didn’t fully take off and become a hit like Boy’s a Liar did, I think it was just a great step in the right direction to get people to see Pink Panthers on their screens again.
I also love that she dropped a whole remix project to this mixtape that include multiple remixes of every song from the album. She teamed up with artists like Anita 17, Kylie Manugg, Zara Larson, Raven, like so many artists who you wouldn’t expect Pink Panther to collaborate with, but ended up working out really well.
And I think this will just help her get even more fans. I mean, 17 has a massive fan base. Anita has a massive fan base. Kylie Manugg, she’s been around for a long time, so she definitely has an older audience that’ll be interested in this collaboration with Pink Panther. I’ve also been seeing the Stateside remix with Zara Larson gain some traction on social media.
And like I said, that just gives very Rihanna vibes. So, I just hope that takes off for the both of them, for Pink Panthers and Zara. Like, that will be such a big moment for the two of these pop girls. Pink Panthers is relatively new to performing and I think as she grows as a performer, she will become a bigger pop girl.
She has said before that performing feels unnatural to her and that she feels more comfortable songwriting and producing. So, I think her being on bigger stages will ultimately just help people appreciate her even more. >> And then I think performing live is something that is so uncompletely is innatural to me. Not natural to me.
I’m not a performer. I’m not a performer. I’m not somebody that was born to go on stage. I’m someone that has to now learn to be that person. And I can’t dance. I’m not good with movement either. I’m not flexible or anything. So, >> and she is trying to be a better performer. I mean, she recently opened up for Olivia Rodrigo.
She is going on her own tour now. She’s doing Coachella next year. So, I think by the time Coachella happens, we’ll really be able to see how much she has improved as a performer. Also, I just thought of something. What if she brings out Zara Larson? I said that I was hoping Zara has a Coachella moment. Obviously, a full Zara set would be amazing, but I need this to happen.
I need Pink Panthers to bring out Zara Larson at Coachella, especially if the Statesside remix does take off. Like, can you imagine them performing that on stage together? They really are at similar stages in their career. So, them collabing was a great idea. And Pink Panthers bringing out Zara would just be a great move for the both of them.
Now, another artist I feel like is at that stage where people know who she is, they know her songs, but hasn’t fully entered the mainstream is Madison Beer. Madison Beer has been very wellknown for over a decade, but she just hasn’t been able to have a song chart yet. I feel like every single era Madison Beer has, there’s always the conversation like Madison Beer is about to become a main pop girl.
This is her moment. And it just never fully happens. But I do think Madison is close to that. I mean, she has a massive audience on social media. She has 40 million followers on Instagram and 20 million followers on Tik Tok. And everyone, for the most part, knows that Madison does music.
Like, it’s not like she was an influencer beforehand who started doing music. She’s been doing music since 2013. I think the main reason Madison hasn’t been able to fully break through yet is that she’s kind of struggled with finding her sound. Her first album, As She Pleases, was very upbeat, kind of soulful pop. And then she went in a more alternative pop direction with her debut album, Life Support, which still definitely had some pop bangers on it.
But then she went even slower with her next album, Silence Between Songs. And now she’s entering this kind of dark dance pop sound with her new album era. I feel like Madison is starting to find her sound with that dark dance pop vibe with songs like Make You Mine, 15 Minutes, and Yes Baby. But what I think is lacking from her and what is preventing her from becoming a full-on main pop girl is her stage presence.
when she’s performing live, she kind of just walks around the stage, which is fine if she’s singing the slower songs that she has. But if you’re a pop girl making dance pop music, fans are going to want to see at least a little bit of coro. When she was teasing the Yes, baby music video, I was like, “Yes, she’s finally about to deliver coro.
” because she was teasing the video with background dancers and they were in a dance studio, but the music video was really just her standing when the background dancers were doing all the dancing. I strongly believe Madison Beer would become a full-on main pop girl if she had a Dual Lia level rebrand with her performances where she just comes back and finally is able to deliver excellent coro.
Duualipa taking the time between her self-titled album and future nostalgia to really learn how to dance is what made her a main pop girl. I mean, the first time she performed Don’t Start Now, people were able to see that coro and start thinking of her as a main pop girl superstar. I really hope we see that with Madison’s new era that she’s entering.
I also think a Coachella moment would help her because Madison is a big enough celebrity to the point where a lot of people would go and show up to her set. So, I think her performing in front of an audience like that would really help her career, but she hasn’t really done big festivals like that. I mean, she’s done her own smaller tours.
So, I think her having a big mainstream festival moment like that would just help her songs shine even more, especially if there’s coro involved. I have been a huge fan of Zara Larson, Pink Panther, and Madison Beer for a long time now, and I just want them to get that moment that they deserve where people are finally starting to see them as main pop girls.
They are each so close to having big breakthrough moments, and I really hope we see that for them in 2026. Thank you all so much for tuning into this episode of the Bot Bible. I really hope you enjoyed it so much that you rate the podcast five stars on whatever platform you’re using and that you also follow the podcast page.
Make sure to let me know in the comments what kind of topics you want me to cover in the future and also check out my content on my short form social media profiles. But thank you so much again and I will see you in the next episode.
The Missing Piece: The Secret Strategy Zara Larsson, Madison Beer, and PinkPantheress Need to Reach Global Superstardom
Article:
In the high-stakes, fast-paced ecosystem of modern pop music, the title of “Main Pop Girl” is both a crown and a battlefield. It is an elusive status reserved for those who don’t just have hits, but who command the cultural conversation. Artists like Zara Larsson, Madison Beer, and PinkPantheress have spent years building their careers, stacking up streaming numbers, and cultivating dedicated fan bases. Yet, they all find themselves hovering in that frustrating space of “almost”—where they are widely recognized, their music is well-known, but they haven’t quite captured the global, household-name status of the industry’s biggest titans.
Zara Larsson’s trajectory is perhaps the most puzzling. In the mid-2010s, she was the face of European pop, delivering smash hits like “Lush Life” and “Symphony” that seemed destined to make her a global superstar. She had the vocals, the stage presence, and the charisma. Yet, the leap to US dominance never fully materialized. Her career was hampered by long delays between albums and a primary focus on the European market, which left American audiences catching up to her work. However, her recent “Midnight Sun” era feels different. By leaning into a cohesive aesthetic—symbolized by the viral dolphin meme and a clear, intentional brand—she has finally developed the kind of long-term vision that characterizes a true pop star.
What would you have done in this situation? If you were an artist whose early success was concentrated in one region, would you have pushed harder for international expansion, or focused on solidifying your base first?
Madison Beer, on the other hand, faces a different challenge: the search for a singular, sonic identity. With a massive social media following, she is already a household name to Gen Z, but her discography has been a journey through various sounds—from soul-pop to alternative-pop to dark dance. While her new direction into dark dance-pop is promising, the final hurdle for Madison is stage presence. In an industry where live performance is the proving ground for pop royalty, Madison has been criticized for a lack of dance-heavy, high-energy choreography. Fans are no longer just looking for a beautiful voice; they want the “Dua Lipa rebrand”—a total evolution in movement and command of the stage.
PinkPantheress represents yet another facet of this “almost there” dilemma. With her unique, genre-bending sound that has defined the sound of the internet for the last few years, she has already achieved the kind of viral success most artists can only dream of. Yet, the challenge for her is scaling that viral magic into a long-term, album-driven narrative. How do you move from being the queen of the 2-minute hit to being a pop star who commands arenas? It requires a different kind of endurance, one that PinkPantheress is currently learning to navigate in real-time.
The path to Main Pop Girl status is never just about talent; it is about the synthesis of music, performance, and narrative. It is about a “Coachella moment”—that high-profile performance that cements an artist’s stature in the minds of the public. It is about a consistent, intentional vision that the average listener can grasp immediately, without needing a deep dive into the artist’s discography. Zara, Madison, and PinkPantheress are arguably closer than they have ever been, but the final, grueling mile of the race is always the hardest.
What does the legacy of these “almost” stars tell us about the industry? It reminds us that there is no singular path to the top. Each of these women is redefining the terms of their own success, even if they haven’t yet reached the heights of a Taylor Swift or a Beyonce. They are in the trenches of their own careers, learning what works, what doesn’t, and how to command an audience in an era where attention is the most valuable currency on earth.
In an age of endless content, the bar for pop stardom has been raised. Fans now demand more than just a great chorus; they demand a world, a character, and a live experience that feels undeniable. These three artists have already proven that they can deliver the music. The next step is the evolution of the performance—the step that turns a singer into a showstopper, and a hitmaker into an icon.
As we conclude this reflection, we turn the spotlight back to you, the audience. This isn’t just about the career struggles of three women; it’s about the nature of our expectations as listeners. Why do we push for certain artists to reach the top? Is it because we truly believe they belong there, or is it because we enjoy watching the story of the ascent? The stage is set, the careers are unfolding, and the world is finally left to wonder who will be the next to truly break through.
What is your take on this—do you believe that today’s pop stars are expected to do “too much” in terms of performance and branding compared to the artists of the past, or is this level of all-around skill necessary to survive in such a crowded market?
