Swedish singer songwriter Zara Larsson is currently taking the music scene by storm after her unexpected rebrand shoots her back into the public eye.
All the way back in 2015 the Swedish pop princess released her hit song ‘Lush Life’ and has been on the verge of stardom ever since. Now over a decade later, Zara is embracing trends and is finally having the breakthrough she truly deserves.
Career Beginnings
Zara’s music career kicked off at the age of just 10 years old when she won the Swedish version of Got Talent in 2008. Following her win she released her first single ‘uncover’ in 2013. This song went onto top charts in both Sweden and Norway, bagging her a record deal and creating her a path into the music industry.
A year after releasing her debut album ‘1’, Zara brought out a single from her next studio album. This was ‘Lush Life’. It spent a total of 64 weeks in the official charts, with a top position of number 3. Towards the end of 2016 into 2017 ‘Lush Life’ dipped in and out of the top 100, but Larsson is taking us back to these years and in the last 7 weeks her hit song has made an epic return. Currently sitting 8th in the UK charts.
In between releasing ‘Lush Life’ and her second album, Zara worked alongside French DJ David Guetta on a song for all you football fans. Together they released the Official song for Euro 2016 ‘This One’s for You’ allowing Zara to be recognised on the international stage.
Larsson’s long anticipated second album then dropped in early 2017, containing some of her most popular work. Notable singles from this album are ‘I would like’, ‘Never Forget You’ with British singer, songwriter and record producer MNEK and finally Clean Bandit’s hit ‘Symphony’ which Zara Larsson featured on. The song ‘Symphony’ is what has reignited Zara’s career in recent years.
Dolphin Meme Makeover
Summer 2024 and the ‘dolphin meme’ soundtracked to the chorus of ‘Symphony’ exploded on the platform TikTok. Videos of dolphins, rainbows and summery effects paired with unhinged or dark stories became one of the biggest social media trends of that year.
Zara made sure not to let this moment pass her by. Instead of just commenting on some posts and having minimal interactions with the meme she hopped on the trend and made it her whole aesthetic. Zara let what was always inside her finally come alive as she embraced the dolphin meme into her performances. She even went as far as bringing inflatable dolphins on stage for her performances of the song ‘Symphony’ in her latest tour.
Her whole team came together creating a new look for Larsson, taking on the colourful, bright and summery features that matched the TikTok trend. Zara banished ‘clean girl’ make up and reintroduced 2016 glam, teaming up with her makeup artist Sophia Sinot to create the iconic and colourful looks Zara is now known for.
The Swedish pop star used social media to the fullest in order to keep up this rebranded look and promote her newest album ‘Midnight Sun’, in which the title song is now doing its rounds on TikTok. Her recent tour also gained a lot of media attention when Larsson began inviting fans up on stage to perform the ‘Lush Life’ dance alongside her. She also partnered with Lisa Frank; an American design company known for its colourful designs, who created an album cover for ‘Midnight Sun’.
Zara Larsson has now formed a recognisable look that every pop star needs. Before she was missing this sense of identity that many other female singers have; Sabrina Carpenter with her body suits and platform boots or Charli XCX and the famous brat looks.
Despite it being the middle of winter Zara has adopted the phrase “Summer isn’t over yet” tying perfectly into her new look and creating yet another trend on social platforms. Thanks to the makeover fans can now relate to Larsson and she has propelled herself high into the music industry with this year looking to be her most successful yet.
Already she has partnered with Pinkpantheress on her hit ‘stateside’ which people are claiming to be the collab of the year and it is only January. They have just released the music video which mashes up the two pop princesses’ aesthetics, bringing together Pink’s plait and Zara’s summery looks. Zara is becoming the queen of music culture as this is her most recent work to go viral on social media.
Larsson’s career is at its peak and she will continue to grow, not just through her fantastic use of social media but she is set to grace the stage alongside some big names this year. In 2026 Zara Larsson is taking us back to 2016 with her ‘Midnight Sun’ era and to see this Swedish icon perform is a must this year.
