“Hot & Sexy,” one of the tracks from Zara Larsson’s fifth studio album Midnight Sun, is pure bliss.
The dance-pop song is a high-energy anthem about a girl’s night out. Then you get to the outro and find yourself breaking down in tears. Buried beneath the glitter is the fear of being a victim of sexual harassment and the frustration that nothing is being done about it.
Reclaiming the meme and the gaze
When you hear the chant “beautiful, fly, hot, and sexy,” it’s pulled from reality star Tiffany Pollard’s infamous 2016 Celebrity Big Brother rant.
After Gemma Collins took back the shoes she gifted, Pollard unloaded in the Diary Room. “Somebody lied to her several times and told her that she was fly, hot, sexy and beautiful, and she’s nothing like that.” Larsson and her executive producer Uzo Emenike (also known as MNEK) are fans of Pollard and asked her to re-record the iconic line.
“Beautiful, fly, hot, and sexy,” represents the very things men expect women to be. Physically attractive, dressed sensually, has a fun, easy-going attitude. Larsson flips these words into a positive affirmation. It’s a call for women to feel comfortable in their skins for their own sakes, not because they’re looking for someone’s approval.
The party with hidden dangers
For most of the track, Larsson paints the perfect night on the town. She’s with her friends, they’re driving around, dressed in their best fits.
“She got a bad girl on her left (Woo)
She got a bad girl on her right (Ooh, she tight)
I got a bad girl sitting right next to me (Yeah)
Right here on the passenger side
They ride for me, I ride for them
E-everywhere we go, it’s a main event
So take a picture for the camera, —ra”
“Oh, somebody come get her, ’cause we’re eating just like dinner
Got their eyes on us, ’cause we’re
(Hot & sexy)
Ah, club, rain, glitter, designer on our figures
Got their eyes on us, ’cause we’re
(Hot & sexy)
(Yeah) Yeah, we lookin’ good
But we ain’t up to that tonight
It could be November, but we still gon’ give you summertime”
Then reality crashes the party. The beat hiccups into a stuttering “tuh-tuh-tuh,” as if the rhythm itself flinches. The pulsing synths and percussion grow in intensity as the hook repeats itself, until you’re hit with jarring lines like “Wanna party all night long, got a fuckhead boy tryna touch my junk.” You can actually feel the desire to just go out and have a nice time clash with the realization that for some women, that’s not possible.
“Tale as old as time
Crime on womankind
Scared to go outside
It still blows my mind how we just let it slide
I’m done feeling like a prey
Watching my back every day
Must say, it’s getting insane
Getting told I need to change
These boys, they need to be raised
Can I be a girl?”
What Larsson describes runs deeper than just wanting to look sexy when she leaves her house. For millions of women around the world, men won’t let us be. I’ve faced sexual harassment from (much older) men while I was bundled up in heavy winter clothes, my only crime being that I was walking to the corner store. Thankfully, I was able to escape the situation without getting hurt but I know I was lucky and that many women can’t say the same thing.
The real problem that doesn’t get enough attention is that the average boy doesn’t grow up to be a predator. It’s something they learn over time. Society encourages men to embrace their worst instincts and shields them from facing any consequences. Larsson hits the nail on the head when she mentions that the way men are raised needs to change. There won’t be any lasting progress if we don’t dig deep to discover the how and why some people become predators and how to mitigate it.
Mixing the joy with the pain
“Hot & Sexy” is surprisingly bittersweet. The song tells a familiar story and it doesn’t try to hide the exhaustion behind it. Yet there’s no denying the hint of defiance hidden in the track. Larsson is telling women to continue to live their best life despite the danger.
