Zara Larsson’s new album Midnight Sun will make you dance — and think.
The Swedish star initially said of her latest project, which is her fourth international release, “I wanted the whole album to feel like it’s a summer night and it never ends.” But Zara tells ABC Audio that the new songs also address where she is right now in her life, after having a major epiphany.
“It is very upbeat and it is very fun, but there’s also some introspective moments,” she explains, “Because … it was a lot of things that happened in my brain. Like, turning 27, I really feel like … somebody threw a cold glass of water in my face, and I just realized a lot of things about myself, about just life in general.”
“I would say it’s quite existential in a way, but it’s dynamic,” she adds. “Overall, I would say it has a lot of energy, for sure.”
So far Zara has released three tracks from the project: “Pretty Ugly,” her current hit, “Crush” and the title track. The phrase “midnight sun” is a nod to Sweden, and Scandinavia in general: During the summer months there, the sun is still visible at midnight.
“It’s funny, because a lot of people, they don’t realize that it’s a real phenomenon,” she says. “I’ve had definitely, like, three people in interviews where they ask me, like, ‘How did you come up with that amazing sentence? It’s so hopeful.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, no, it’s a real thing.'”
“But it is quite nice. It is a beautiful symbol,” she says, adding that she “wanted to take people on this little journey to the midnight sun” with the new album, which also includes “some other Swedish references.”
Zara’s Midnight Sun North American headlining tour launches Feb. 28 in Portland, Oregon.
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