If you were subject to a parade of dolphins doing aerial acrobatics with chaotic captions like “me listening to my intrusive thoughts in 4D” on your FYP this year, then you have Zara Larsson to thank (or blame, depending on your serotonin levels). “Symphony,” her 2017 collab with Clean Bandit, found a bizarre and beautiful second life on TikTok this year. The emotional EDM ballad became the soundtrack to some of the most absurd and yet still moving videos the app on the app, thanks to Gen Z’s gift for irony, or the simple fact that the song still slaps.

While TikTok might be treating “Symphony” like it just dropped yesterday, Larsson has been stacking chart-topping hits since the early 2010s, long before the app existed. Her breakout track “Lush Life” became a certified summer anthem in 2015, turning every bus ride and beach day into a mini music video. Then came “Never Forget You” with MNEK, an emotional banger that had people crying in the club before that was a meme, and “Ruin My Life” gave toxic love the glamorous, messy pop treatment it deserved.

Larsson has carved out a distinct lane for herself: music that makes you dance like no one’s watching while quietly spiraling over your last situationship. Her songs are glitter bombs of emotional chaos, high-energy, heartbreak-laced and impossible not to sing along to. Whether she’s belting about euphoric love or emotional ruin, Larsson always makes it sound like you’re the main character, even if you’re just wearing your headphones while folding laundry in a hoodie. Now, with “Symphony” living its best viral life eight years post-release, it’s clear her music isn’t just made for the charts, it’s made to last.

While her past hits may be getting a second life online, the Swedish-born, LA-based pop star is fully ready for a new era which comes in the form of Midnight Sun her fourth international studio album and her second independent release through her own label, Sommer House, in partnership with Epic Records. Set to be released on September 26, the 10-track project is a nostalgic and personal love letter to life.

She gave fans a first listen of the album in April with “Pretty Ugly” a punchy, pop-forward, shouty girl anthem with lyrics that balance sass, self-love and chaos. The music video, directed by Charlotte Rutherford, starts off with a squad of girls in synchronized cheer formation before escalating into a glorious, full-blown muddy brawl inspired by a Lara Croft-style action scene. It’s messy, it’s fierce, it’s an open embrace of “bad” behavior. In it, Larsson embodies what she does best: looking hot while absolutely losing her mind… on purpose, of course. “I wanted “Pretty Ugly” to be fun, shouty and a bit obnoxious,” she tells PAPER.

Following up this fiery kickoff, the title track “Midnight Sun” was released this on Friday as the lead single. Co-produced with longtime collaborator MNEK and Margo XS, the track draws inspiration from the surreal endlessness of Swedish summer nights. It’s a shimmering pop anthem soaked in nostalgia with a warm expansive pop production, airy synths,and layered harmonies. Lyrically, it reflects on fleeting moments of connection and the kind of nights you wish you could live in forever. Larsson describes it as a “celebration of life that never ends,” Basically, if “Pretty Ugly” is the chaotic best friend screaming in the passenger seat, “Midnight Sun” is the 2 AM drive home where everything feels weirdly beautiful and profound.

Larsson will be hitting the road this August, opening for Tate McRae’s Miss Possessive arena tour, playing 27 shows across the US and Canada. “My focus, and what I love, is to perform on stage, and it was literally perfect timing” she tells us. The Miss Possessive tour arrives just at the right moment, giving fans a live taste of Larsson’s new era while also revisiting the anthems that first put her on the map. Later on this year, she’ll step into the spotlight with her own Midnight Sun Tour kicking off in October with a string of headline shows across Europe.

Below, Larsson catches up with PAPER to discuss Midnight Sun, “Pretty Ugly” and what we can expect from her next chapter.

We’re here in New York City. What do you have planned for this week?

New York is always just press and promo. I had a day off yesterday, very rare, and I’m doing a shoot with you today, but overall it’s been pretty chill. I just love to be in the city.

Do you find it inspiring to be here when you’re in your creative process?

I fuckin’ love being here. I would really enjoy living here. I would probably be my truest, freest self here, because I feel like the city is so embracing of people’s uniqueness and how they want to express themselves. Here you can come out on the street and just connect with people, and that’s so inspiring.

Where do you find yourself most inspired when working on new music?

Because I’ve been going there for so long and that’s where I usually work on music, I would have to say Los Angeles. But, I don’t really love LA if I’m not working or have a packed schedule there.

Speaking of new music, can we talk about “Pretty Ugly”?

This was probably the first or second song that we did for this album, and it just appeared. I feel most of these songs just went “Hey” and appeared in the room. I wanted “Pretty Ugly” to be fun, shouty and a bit obnoxious. From the first second you put it on, it’s right there in your face.

There’s lots of fun choreo in the music video. Have you ever cheered before? How long did it take you to learn the full choreo?

The whole music video is a really fun, sexy, cutesy, girly video. Cheering is not really a big thing in Sweden, but I feel like I was the perfect candidate for American propaganda growing up, so everything “American” I thought was really cool, so I went for cheer and did that for two years. I also really wanted this huge mud fight in the video inspired by a Lara Croft scene where she’s wrestling in the mud and immediately thought to myself, “that’s hot.” The vibe for the video was girls who are unapologetically the girliest girls that got messy.

What does “Pretty Ugly” tell us about what’s coming next in this new era of your music?

What’s nice about Midnight Sun is that I’ve worked on the sonic aspect of it with a small group of people, and the visual aspect with Charlotte Rutherford. It feels like a world and I’m building a little story. I think “Pretty Ugly” has a touch of irony and humor which reflects on the themes of the overall album. It doesn’t necessarily speak for the rest of the album in terms of what it sounds like, but I wanted it to be the first song because it reflects on the energy of the overall project.

I also had the chance to listen to your new single “Midnight Sun” tell me more about its inspiration?

I love “Midnight Sun”. I love the title, I love what it’s saying. It sounds like a love song but really it’s a song for the love of life. It’s very me in my country house in Sweden, enjoying a Swedish summer night where the sun never sets, and that’s literally what it is. Life all night. It’s a very special thing that not a lot of people get to have as their childhood, but for me it feels nostalgic and something that’s true to what I feel like is home and personal. This song describes peak life for me, bringing out all my friends, driving in my car, listening to music, jumping in the water. It’s a celebration of life and I just want it to never end.

You’ve given us some amazing hits over the years, which one is your all-time favorite?

That is so hard! Because honestly I really love to perform the hits. “Symphony” just had a whole revival moment and that’s probably the song I perform the most. It’s always so fun to see how people react to the hits, those are the songs that people sing along to and have as their favorite songs and have so many memories to. They are really fun because of how the crowd reacts. But for me personally, I really do love songs from my first album because they feel so personal and haven’t been outplayed. That album became available worldwide when I bought my catalog, but it’s not as known and that’s why it feels special.

“Symphony” fully took over TikTok this past year. What was that like? How did you realize your 2017 hit was going viral in 2025?

My friend started sending me a couple of the videos and I was confused as to why they were getting so many likes, it grew very quickly, and all of the sudden I truly didn’t know what was happening. I never could have planned it but I just rolled with it and now I included the dolphins in my live shows and people love them. But I think it’s so amazing, because people feel like it’s almost an inside joke and millions of people are in on it. I feel like I’ve definitely claimed the dolphins now.

You’ve collaborated with so many artists over the years. What are some of your favorite collaborations?

Sabrina and I did a song a while ago, and I’ve always loved her and think she’s amazing.

Who are some of your favorite pop girls right now?

Oh my god, there are so many. I feel like girls run pop now. I love Tate, Doechii, Tyla and Chappell Roan. I saw this girl on TikTok, Eli Sickening, I think she’s going to be big.

You mentioned Tate McRae. You’re going on tour with her this summer. How did that come together?

I knew she was going on tour, and it was literally perfect timing. She needed a support slot and I was so down. She has been working for a long time and hasn’t stopped touring, building this audience for a while, and now she’s doing a full-on world arena tour. I think that’s incredible and I haven’t really done that many shows here in the US, so I feel like it’s a perfect combination of two pop girls who love to dance, put on a show, and who will bring some tempo and hopefully her fans are going to like it. The dream is to introduce myself to people who don’t know me or who might have not seen me before.

Were you guys friends before working on this tour together?

I met her for the first time at her album launch party in LA and it was so amazing.

What’s your dream collaboration?

Right now it would probably be with Doechii, I think she would be sick on “Pretty Ugly”.

Can you describe this next Zara Larsson chapter in three words?

Free. Joyful. Introspective.

Photography: Vincenzo Dimino