Zalma wants to spread joy and love with this year’s Växjö Pride song
An energetic pop track has been selected as this year’s Växjö Pride song. It is called ‘Det var menat’ [It was meant to be] and is written by Zalma Lopez, a singer-songwriter student at Linnaeus University.
“When I found out that my song had been chosen, it felt fantastic! It’s so special to get to represent something as central to Pride as spreading joy and love – it aligns perfectly with who I want to be as an artist,” says Zalma.
She drew inspiration for the song both from her own life and from Lady Gaga’s track ‘Born This Way’. She worked with Jesper Wibäck, a student on the music production programme, to produce the song. Zalma explains that the theme came to her very quickly, and she immediately knew what kind of feeling she wanted to convey.
“The message of the song is about self-love. My hope is that everyone feels that they can be exactly who they are and that they will be accepted for it. I also want people to listen to the song and feel uplifted – and perhaps have a slightly better day because of it.”
The entire process, from initial idea to finished track, took a couple of weeks, with a strong focus on getting the lyrics exactly as she wanted them. Her favourite part of the song is a section in the second chorus.
“The part where I sing ‘Look at me, I love you’ is both fragile and simple, but for me it goes straight to the heart! I think I even got a bit of a shiver when I wrote it,” Zalma laughs.
She says the most challenging part was getting the lyrics right.
“I wanted the lyrics to be narrative and have a certain depth, while still being easy to connect with on the first listen.”
The song will be performed live for the first time during Växjö Pride.
“It will feel a bit daunting to sing at Växjö Pride, but regardless, I’m incredibly excited to finally get to perform the song for an audience,” Zalma concludes.