Zara Larsson knows it’s been too long.
The Swedish dance-pop star enjoyed a now multi-platinum hit in both Australia and New Zealand in 2015 with her trop-house banger “Lush Life” and touched down for the first of several promo junkets, performing on the Sunrise breakfast show.
Over a decade later, she’ll finally tour as OneRepublic’s special guest this February – but why has it taken all this time?
“Honestly, I asked myself the same thing,” Larsson tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “I feel like, especially a few years back, when I first started travelling around making music, Australia was one of the first places that really welcomed me with my music. So I’ve always thought, ‘I’ll be back very soon…’ And now it’s really about time.”
Larsson is an unusual support for the 2000s rockers, but she insists she’ll match their energy. “I’ll definitely bring my vibe. I’ll bring the dancers, I’ll bring the girls, for sure.”
The timing is auspicious as Larsson is rolling out her fifth album, Midnight Sun — joking about being so impatient that she was tempted to “leak” it. She’s currently on a North American arena tour with Tate McRae, followed by European headline dates. “Hopefully by next year, I’ll be very ready and set and have it in my body and it’ll flow really nicely.”
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Larsson — Zooming from Stockholm with her blonde hair in a bun and sporting grey athleisure — is chatty and open, at one point mentioning a surprising aspiration to be a pilot. “I wanna take my helicopter licence — I started doing that. I’m far from done.”
Now 27, Larsson was a child star in her native Sweden, winning the reality talent program Talang (the local edition of Simon Cowell’s Got Talent franchise) at age 10 with an uncanny rendition of Céline Dion’s Titanic power ballad “My Heart Will Go On”. “I’m a person who only likes things that I’m instantly good at, which is why I think I chose music, because I was just a good singer as a child,” she laughs.
Larsson didn’t have global success overnight, however. She eventually signed to the Swedish independent TEN Music Group (she was also briefly on Dr Luke’s Kemosabe Records), before the teenager broke out worldwide with “Lush Life”, the streaming smash auguring her blockbuster international debut, So Good. Björk even dropped “Lush Life” in an epic DJ set at Vivid Sydney.
Larsson, meanwhile, unleashed a second hit in the bassy “Never Forget You”, duetting with MNEK – her now longterm collaborator already working alongside that shrewd curator Madonna. She teamed with Clean Bandit for “Symphony”, which topped the UK charts and received two BRIT nominations – the song latterly having a viral revival on TikTok. In 2021, Larsson re-emerged with Poster Girl, Atlanta rapper Young Thug cameoing on the R&B cut “Talk About Love”.
Shortly after, Larsson split from TEN, assuming ownership of her recording catalogue and launching a label, Sommer House, with 2024 album Venus. She was motivated by another creative’s protracted and bitter bid to reclaim her masters, and artistic autonomy, in a male-dominated music industry. “Taylor Swift was one of the inspirations for what we wanted not to happen, because I remember it was just during that time,” she reveals.
Indeed, it wasn’t acrimonious. Larsson‘s TEN label boss Ola Håkansson actually canvassed the idea on his retirement. “He immediately felt like, ‘My legacy has to be bigger than just my money in the bank, because I’m also really old and, at 80, for how long are you gonna enjoy your earnings?’ Larsson recalls. “It’s like, ‘What are people gonna say about me when I’m gone?’ So he just asked me if I was interested in buying my masters and I said, ‘Absolutely I am…’ I just think it’s really amazing for me to own my work.”
Larsson even has control of any “Lush Life” syncs, despite no songwriting credit. “‘Lush Life’ is my song and so much of my identity,” she says, “so it feels nice to just be able to kind of decide where it’s going, where I can use it… And that’s why I also wanna write everything.” She adds sagely, “Obviously it’s a good cash thing – it’s a good retirement.”
As she approaches a second decade in the music business, Larsson deems Midnight Sun her most autobiographical album, the theme growth rather than reinvention. “I wrote the whole thing for the first time – I didn’t do that with my other projects.”
Suitably, the lead single is the electro-punk empowerment anthem “Pretty Ugly” (again with input from MNEK), Larsson clamouring, “Have you ever seen a pretty girl get ugly like this? / Messy like this? / Losing her shit?” Yet she wrestles with insecurity, toxic comparison, and the vicious cycle of perfectionism on the hooky “The Ambition”.
“I feel like it’s a lot more personal,” Larsson ponders. “I’m speaking more candidly about how I feel right now, what my thoughts are, where my head’s at, how I’m feeling about being a girl, being in the industry, speaking of my friends, travelling… Because also the older you get — at least the older I get — the more I think about where I’m from and how I grew up. Now I’ve kind of entered an age where I can be nostalgic about my childhood.”
The contemplative title track, with its breakbeat twist redolent of Madonna’s Ray of Light era, and folksy “Euro Summer” capture Larsson in that sentimental mindstate, and, ultimately, Midnight Sun is a paean to Sweden’s pop culture — the country that produced ABBA, Robyn, and Avicii — which she attributes to its liberal education system. (“When you invest in art, for some people it might be silly and like, ‘Oh, but it’s not doing anything,’ but I promise you, even if you think about it money-wise, that money will be seen times 10 again.”)
The mood overall is sanguine. “It’s a good mix,” she says. “Just because it’s personal, it doesn’t have to be sad.” Larsson highlights the confessional UK garage-esque “Girl’s Girl” as particularly revelatory as she explores queer sexual desire. “There’s definitely some introspective points of views on the album that I haven’t shared before… But it’s quite uptempo, very dancey, very me. But, then, if you listen to the lyrics, it’s like, ‘Oh, okay, you know…'”
Larsson is renowned for her playfully unfiltered social media presence. As a feminist, however, she’s outspoken on social issues while US superstars like her hero Beyoncé and Swift have gradually retreated from the political stage. Larsson empathises with Chappell Roan, who experienced public backlash when, during the 2024 US presidential election, she declined to endorse Kamala Harris but said she’d vote for her over Donald Trump, citing the Democrats’ apathetic policies on trans rights and Palestine.
“I hate being misconstrued. But I think, the older I get, I realise some people do that on purpose and nitpick things on purpose — and that’s a good example with Chappell Roan. Because I think her fans, and her followers, are very progressive, very reasonable — they wanna see the same things happening as what she stands for.
“But she’s also being held to such an incredibly high standard, which I feel only happens for women, for some reason. I think we have to be these perfect people and you have to stand up for something, but you have to also be very nice… It’s just like, ‘Oh my gosh.'”
Today, Larsson confirms that she’s largely quit X/Twitter. “That has elevated my mental health,” she laughs. “It’s silly, but it’s true.”
In the past, she was provocative. “I did a whole thing of hating men when I was younger, which I still kind of stand for… I’m very reactive, I think I would say. I’m just a reactive person to what I’m seeing – and sometimes I do that on purpose, just to get a reaction and to get a discussion going.”
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Larsson questioned why artists continue to engage the controversial producer Dr. Luke. (In a 2014 lawsuit Kesha alleged that he emotionally abused and sexually assaulted her, which he denied in a countersuit for defamation.) Her comments were interpreted as a missive to Katy Perry, who’d reunited with Luke for “WOMAN’S WORLD”.
“I said something about Dr. Luke not that long ago and I had so many angry fans,” Larsson reveals. Because she’d abandoned X/Twitter, KatyCats “migrated” to her other social media platforms, DMing or leaving antagonistic comments with casual cruelties like, “‘You fucking bitch” and “You should die.'” But the tone switched when Larsson cracked a joke. “I said something funny and they were like, ‘Wait, you’re eating! I’m gonna stream your song.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God, you’re not serious people.'”
Pile-ons impact her mental wellbeing. “It does hurt. It’s very hard to see strangers coming at you, saying all these negative things about you – and that’s just a human reaction. If you don’t care at all, then, I don’t know, like teach me your ways. But it definitely affects me.”
These days Larsson prefers “real life” – and good faith – discussions about politics, feminism, and activism where her intentions are clear. “I have to remind myself that sometimes the internet and what people are saying there are just like crazy town.”
Still, Larsson stresses, “I’ve never said anything and regretted it in the sense of, ‘Oh, I’ve changed my mind on this’ or ‘I’ve changed my stand on this.'” It’s more that she appreciates complexity. “Maybe the older I get, the more nuanced things get. But, if anything, my roots in what I believe in are deeper — and that’s why I can see the nuances. But I never change my mind when it comes to human rights and just equality and how I view other people.”
She sighs. “I wish more people could see the good in other people — not to be like all rainbow and sunshine, but to be nice to each other.”
Coincidentally, McRae visited Australia as a teen dancer in 2017, returning five years later as a pop phenom – and, like her tour buddy, Larsson hopes to head her own Antipodean run in future. “[…] let’s get some more hits down and then I can also come back as a superstar for my shows.”
Zara Larsson’s Midnight Sun is out now.
OneRepublic and Zara Larsson 2026 Australia and New Zealand Tour
For complete tour information, visit: livenation.com.au and livenation.co.nz
Wednesday, February 4th
Spark Arena, Auckland NZ
Friday, February 6th
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney AUS
Wednesday, February 11th
Hota Outdoors, Gold Coast AUS
Thursday, February 12th
Riverstage, Brisbane AUS
Sunday, February 15th
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne AUS
Wednesday, February 18th
RAC Arena, Perth AUS
