Overwrought images from a “Euro Summer” usually involve fat bouquets of Italian tomatoes, blue-domed Greek buildings, and country-agnostic bustier dresses in gingham and fruit prints. In Zara Larsson’s world, it’s where ’90s Malibu Barbie hits up Sweden for summer; where the sun never sets and everything is in Lisa Frank-esque, acidic HD. Midnight Sun, Larsson’s fifth studio album, is the soundtrack.
The 27-year-old is already more than a decade into her career, but this is the moment when Larsson is finally coming into view as pop’s main girl. Calling first upon longtime collaborator and friend MNEK (with whom she made one of her first hits, “Never Forget You”), Larsson built a core team that included emerging producer Margo XS and songwriter Helena Gao. On their first day, they made “Midnight Sun”—a high-octane, hypnotic eurodance banger that, upon release, went stratospheric.
Across a thrillingly taut 10 tracks, Larsson revels in the heart-opening, euphoric swoops and strides of the Swedish pop shere that raised her—and pushes beyond it. The album swirls with trance sounds, licks of Brazilian funk, and romps through the New York ballrooms with songs like the vogue-y “Hot & Sexy” and cheeky “Puss Puss.” One of the standouts, though, is the reflective, airy, celestial-sounding “Saturn’s Return.” It’s a song about the ever-shifting goalposts and pressures Larsson has set aside. “It feels so good to know I don’t know what I’m doing. I know I’m free in my naivety,” she sings. “The Ambition,” on the other hand, has shades of Charli XCX’s Brat, as Larsson gets real about her biggest, unabashed dreams.
When we speak, Larsson is in Austin on a revelatory kind of tour, for two reasons. One: even though she’s supporting Tate McRae, fans are treating her slot like the main event. A scroll through TikTok shows Larsson held aloft by dancers, hitting vocal runs of another astral plane, and crowds you wouldn’t normally expect pre-9 p.m. in an arena. Two: she’s allowed herself to enjoy touring, taking herself out solo to experience new places rather than staying in bed.
“I loved Florida—it’s a cuckoo place with interesting people! I saw alligators. The older I get, the more I need to go hug a tree,” she says over Zoom, clicking extra-long, soapy acrylic nails. (How very Scandi.)
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