Label: Epic Records
Released: 26th September 2025
Zara Larsson knows her way around a pop banger. ‘Lush Life’, ‘Never Forget You’, ‘Symphony’, ‘Can’t Tame Her’, ‘Ruin My Life’… the list goes on. The title track to fifth album, ‘Midnight Sun’, is easily up there with her most deliciously catchy, decadent pop anthems. A song about the eternal summer that happens in her home country of Sweden, it’s a joyful, upbeat track that you never want to end. Luckily, the shimmering ‘Blue Moon’ is just as jubilant.
The first two tracks to ‘Midnight Sun’ are pretty much exactly what we’ve come to expect from Zara, who’s built her career on pretty, polished, radio-friendly pop. However, album five sees her shake off everyone else’s idea of what a megastar should be and embrace her own smirking personality.
‘Pretty Ugly’ is a confidently chaotic, with Zara bringing a touch of punk rebellion and cheerleading energy to the electro clash, while the chirpy ‘Hot & Sexy’ is a ravey slice of ‘00s dance. It’s not just her influences, Zara is toying around with on ‘Midnight Sun’. The sleek ‘Girl’s Girl’ and the pulsating ‘Crush’ are hot, heavy and unafraid of the consequences before the stripped back ‘Saturn’s Return’ gets vulnerable about the uncomfortable growing pains that come in your late 20s. “It feels so good to know that I don’t know what I’m doing. I love that I’m free in my naivety,” she sings.
Then there’s ‘The Ambition’ which has Zara singing about wanting to sell out stadiums and top the charts while struggling with comparisons, needing validation and wanting to be understood. It’s a lot to get through in three-and-a-half minutes, but Zara makes fearless honesty look easy. The whole thing ends with the kiss-off romance of ‘Puss Puss’, the perfect conclusion to an album about really feeling herself.
Leave a Reply