4.5/5
Coming in at just over 30 minutes, Zara Larsson wastes no time in crafting a Barbie-dream world that feels cohesive, confident and uncompromising.
While many pop fans have been singing her praises for years, Midnight Sun may be the first proper introduction for some to Sweden’s pop sensation and Europop princess. From winning Sweden’s Got Talent at just 10 years old to creating chart-topping singles with David Guetta and Clean Bandit, Larsson’s career has always been larger than life. Even if you don’t know her by name right away, you’ve most definitely heard her work — from the youthful 2017 release “Lush Life” to Clean Bandit’s “Symphony.”
A resurgence of “Symphony” on social media in 2024 set the stage for Larsson’s fifth studio album. Arriving less than two years after her previous release Venus — a record that felt more label driven than artist led — Midnight Sun finds Larsson reclaiming her voice and leaning into the pop chaos she left behind.
Across just 10 tracks in 31 minutes, Larsson bottles summer itself and serves it back as flawlessly engineered pop perfection. The opening track, “Midnight Sun” sets the scene, drawing you in with a simple beat that balloons into a euphoric soundscape and heartbeat inspired by Sweden’s never-setting sun, the landscape and inspiration for the album. You’ll find yourself unable to avoid dancing as the hook builds to Larsson’s towering riffs — it’s contagious and irresistible.
The summer high carries into “Blue Moon,” a soft-opening pop ballad about summer love in the heat of the night that balances warmth with a pulsing beat that keeps you locked in the world of Midnight Sun. The production’s polish comes in part from Larsson’s choice of collaborators, including MNEK, with whom she previously struck gold on “Never Forget You.” Together they find the album’s true sound, underscored by “Blue Moon’s” cheeky self-aware outro: “I think we should clean that up […] No, let’s get messy.”
Then comes “Pretty Ugly”, her loudest, most chaotic and abrasive moment on the record — bold, unapologetic and brazenly sexy. It’s a declaration of the artist Larsson wants to be — free from the glossy mold of label expectations.
Two back-to-back tracks “Girl’s Girl” and “Crush” function as sisters. The first explores the clash of desire with loyalty — “I wanna be a girl’s girl / But what happens when a girl’s girl wants the boy?” — while the second wrestles with the bittersweet weight of a crush that can’t go anywhere. It’s in these moments, Larsson pairs Euro-pop polish with vulnerability, proving her songs are as reflective as they are danceable.
The album’s centerpiece “Eurosummer” might be its thesis, where an Eastern European accordion and Eurodance influences fuel lyrics about the joy and weightlessness only summer love can bring. Embodying the fleeting euphoria of Midnight Sun, Larsson sings “I’ll be your girl for two months / You tell your friends I’m too fun / Naked and never sober / This feels like Euro summer.”
The next track has consistently left me speechless, stopping me in my tracks every time. “Hot and Sexy” begins bold, sampling Tiffany “New York” Pollard’s Celebrity Big Brother rant about Gemma Collins that is as iconic as it is explicit. In the wrong hands, this soundbite might feel tacky or inauthentic, but Larsson turns it into camp-pop magic. A hit in the making destined for party playlists that keep the night alive.
The final stretch shifts inward as “The Ambition” sees Larsson grapple with self-comparison and the hunger to be loved and understood as an artist on a larger scale. “Saturn’s Return” slows things down. The reflection shown on multiple tracks throughout the album is revisited as she enters her 27th year redefining how people will know her — “Said by twenty, I’d be fillin’ up stadiums / Didn’t happen, so I changed the deadline”.
“Puss Puss” closes the album with tender vison of lasting love, wrapped in vulnerability fans don’t often see on stage. The title — Puss puss, meaning “kiss kiss” in Swedish — is more than a bubbly sign off. The track blends raw vulnerability with flashes of sexuality and cheeky asides to her future lover, confessing — “Puss puss / But I don’t wanna hang up / Don’t want you to leave me alone […] So wet under these bedsheets / Talk to you in Swedish / Puss puss.”
The sun-drenched rebirth of an artist with so much to offer, Midnight Sun is an album only Zara Larsson could make. Beginning in a Lisa Frank painted dance floor and ending in the glow of the morning sunrise, Larsson has created an album that doesn’t just remind you of summer; it fills your soul with the feelings only summer can bring.