When we last spoke with Izza Gara in early September, she had just released Favour, a track that hinted at a new sharpness in her storytelling. Now, with Superbia Hardcore, the Swedish artist turns that instinct into a full statement, revisiting the years when her tastes, fears and desires were first forming. Born in Gothenburg to Turkish and Swedish roots and raised in the city’s underground dance community, Gara grew up immersed in early-2000s pop and movement-driven expression—influences that resurface here with renewed intention.
The EP unfolds as a conversation between past and present: hyper-femininity meeting defiance, pride shaped by vulnerability, and nostalgia sharpened by experience. Favour opens the project with the same quiet burn we recognised months ago, confronting subtle dismissals with a glow that feels grounded rather than confrontational. It sets the tone for an EP that chooses precision over spectacle.
On OVU, Gara approaches uncertainty with lightness, letting instinct guide her rather than perfection. That rawness becomes even more palpable in Love Me, a study of how identity bends in the search for affection and how easy it is to lose yourself in the process. Each track edges closer to self-awareness without abandoning the emotional messiness that fuels it.
A short detour through Grocery Shopping Interlude resets the senses before the EP’s most exploratory moment: 3000, featuring London artist Miso Extra. The track threads two cities and two creative worlds, offering a more futuristic angle without breaking the EP’s emotional coherence.
Everything settles in Superbia, a closing piece shaped by relief and clarity. A recognition of pride not as vanity, but as survival. It’s here that Gara pays tribute to the younger version of herself, the one who absorbed sounds, images and movements before she had the words to connect them.
Superbia Hardcore isn’t a return to the 00s; it’s a return to instinct. Bold, cinematic and tender, it captures an artist stepping into sharper self-definition while staying rooted in the intuition that started it all.