is no stranger to having viral hits, but even she was caught off guard when an eight-year-old song she recorded with Clean Bandit suddenly exploded on social media.
“My friends started sending me these videos. It’s a very fun, colorful Lisa Frank aesthetic mixed with ‘I’m an alcoholic’ or ‘I have severe depression’ or ‘my boyfriend’s cheating on me’—with this very beautiful song,” Larsson told Variety during an episode of Know Their Lyrics.
The song she’s referencing, “Symphony,” already racked up over 1.3 billion views on YouTube long before TikTok got its hands on it. “I saw one comment on my [TikTok] video saying, ‘Flex. I knew the song before it became a trend,’” Larsson said. “And I’m like, yeah—so did a billion other people.” Honestly, she’s not wrong. “Symphony” was always a hit, it just needed Gen Z to give it a sparkly reboot. “It’s amazing. A classic good song is always a good song no matter the time,” she added.
The viral moment felt like a reintroduction for Larsson, despite the fact that she’s been making hits and performing for over a decade. “I’ve always been here. Obviously in my world, I always exist, but for a lot of people they’re like, oh my gosh, that song—Zara Larsson, hey,” she said. “It was amazing timing that I got back into people’s consciousness.” The resurgence couldn’t have come at a better moment, as Larsson is preparing to unveil a new chapter of music she’s genuinely thrilled about, “I am working on new music that makes me so excited for people to hear.”
And fans should be excited about this new era. The Swedish pop powerhouse has been channeling her energy into music that celebrates female empowerment and club-ready pop anthems. Crafted in a creative bubble with her longtime collaborator MNEK, she describes the writing process as “easy” adding, “He and I wrote all the songs together, and it was just magic.”
One of the first singles to emerge from those sessions is “Pretty Ugly,” a track that Larsson says felt destined to be written. “This one was a good first song, kind of unexpected, not the typical pop song,” she said. “[It] definitely hits you in the face when you hear it.” She admitted, “It’s also the first time where I’m not working with straight men,” laughing but clearly savoring the creative shift. “It really did make a difference. It’s for the girls and the gays.”
Now 27, Larsson is charging full speed into her next act. “I’ve been working on new music and my album throughout the year,” she said. “I didn’t want to wait too long to release new music because it took me four years from ‘So Good’ to ‘Poster Girl,’ and then a couple of years between ‘Venus’.” This time around, there’s no hesitation for Larsson. “I feel so satisfied with the music that’s coming out. So, it’s like, why wait? It’s ready, and it wants to enter the world.”
As for her own artistry, Larsson reflected on how far she’s come since her breakout hit “Lush Life”. “I feel like a lot of my identity as an artist is in the dance world,” she acknowledged. “I used to be really shy when I would hear my songs in the club, but now I’m like, ‘Hey, turn it up.’” She added with a smile, “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Every collab I’ve done, I’m super proud of.”
Larsson also gave a shout-out to fellow pop stars Tate McRae and Sabrina Carpenter—two artists she sees as thriving in this generation’s pop renaissance. “I’m so excited about the new pop girls,” she beamed. “Tate McRae, I’m obsessed with her. Sabrina [Carpenter], like come on, she’s such a star.” It’s not just admiration from afar, either. Larsson recalls teaming up with Carpenter on the “WOW” remix back in 2021, calling it a full-circle moment. “We did a remix of the song together. I’ve loved her for a long time—before ‘Espresso’ and before the Taylor Swift tour.” Now, Larsson will be hitting the road with McRae as part of the Miss Possessive Tour. “We’re going out on tour together,” she added. “So maybe we’ll become good friends.”
