A deep dive into the rebranding of Zara Larsson
Zara Larsson, Swedish pop singer, has rapidly become a trending artist in the past few year, following the release of her single ‘Midnight Sun’ (2025) – the artist has inspired a new wave of maximalism in makeup (as seen on TikTok) as well as revitalising the concept of Y2K fashion and, most importantly, the nostalgia and fun of summer. The most fascinating facet of this sudden rise back into the public domain is what sparked it off – a dolphin meme using a chorus from her previous 2017 hit single ‘Symphony’.
The Symphony Meme Explained
Last year in August 2024, a wave of TikTok videos flooded viewers social media pages with the image/GIF of an animated dolphin emerging out of the water with a rainbow behind it. In Larsson’s words, the meme was “happiness in a picture…paired with like ‘I am an alcoholic’… or something really dark” and “a lot of people rediscovered [Symphony]” through it – she was drawn to the “colours and the happiness and… the water” and felt that it was “very Midnight Sun”.
Larsson goes into detail about her reaction to the meme in this interview with Zach Sang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kaYZo4dXKk
The meme inspired an album of the same name (Midnight Sun, 2025) that was released in June of this year – the single in particular pushes forward the aesthetic by introducing the idea that “summer isn’t over yet” in the lyrics and describes having fun under a “never-ending midnight sun”.
By adopting the concept that came with the meme, Larsson “reframed the entire narrative by leaning into the joke”. ( https://youtube.com/shorts/kVf-HecBWXM?si=liZV3yq7v-r5k3GV ) Her and her label’s approach to rebranding ties into several branding theories, but particularly Viral Marketing theory, as Larsson’s new aesthetic and brand have been meticulously crafted to cater to a TikTok consuming audience who will thrive off the endless ways to create content through it. There are many examples of how Larsson’s demographic has interacted with her new brand. For example, in the height of Zara’s virality due to the ‘Symphony’ meme, the artist began posting new dance trends (as seen in the music video and in many TikTok’s that the artist herself has recreated).
Larsson’s approach to TikTok
Zara Larsson’s TikTok feed, where the singer consistently posts has arguably been the most pivotal asset in her climb to mainstream prevalence. From intimate behind-the –scenes videos, where Larsson shares her thoughts and feelings regarding her touring, releases and public response in real time, to live performance clips, the singer has consistently posted 1-2 TikTok videos a day following her single and album release.
Below is a link to Zara Larsson’s TikTok account to demonstrate the rate at which the singer posts but also the clear aesthetic which is portrayed even through just scrolling through her profile grid: https://www.tiktok.com/@zaralarsson?lang=en
Despite much of the content put out on Larsson’s feed being arguably low-effort, random and informal, the singer seemingly has gained more traction by doing so, which intertwines ‘Relationship branding’ and ‘User Generated Content Theory’ as Larsson plays into the content that her consumers and fans have created following the ‘Midnight Sun’ release, such as fan-made dances and covers which Larsson has recreated in her posts – fans have praised and appreciated how Larsson is “chronically online” in the comment sections of these posts.
A crude and hilarious example of all this is a TikTok that she recently posted where she sings the chorus of ‘Midnight Sun’ with crude fan-altered lyrics and has tagged the original TikToker who made them, known online for creating crude covers of songs: https://www.tiktok.com/@zaralarsson/video/7580677148508196118?lang=en
Below is a screenshot of the comment section:
From just a quick read through these comments, it is evident to see that fans appreciate her authenticity which, here, is displayed through being “chronically online”, meaning to spend an unhealthy amount of time on social media forums to the point where you recognise and understand either extremely recent and/or niche internet memes, discourse and slang. (Your Teen magazine, 2024)
The Revival of Maximalist Makeup
Larsson’s new makeup style has seen with a resurgence of maximalist makeup in recent social media trends, with many influencers and fans recreating looks from her tour and widely praising her style. Simple aesthetic choices like this have been refreshing for consumers that are bored with previous “clean girl” makeup trends – Larsson has “spearheaded this colourful shift in 2025” and “with each new bold look [Larsson and her makeup artist Sophia Sinot] produce, the whimsical trend grows.” (Aaliyah Harry, 2025)
Below this article by ‘Hello Fashion’ magazine delves deeper into this sudden change in mainstream makeup trends: https://www.hellomagazine.com/hfm/beauty-trends/872063/the-clean-girl-aesthetic-is-dead-maximalist-makeup-is-set-to-take-over-2026/
Live Performances and Appearances
Larsson injected this summer aesthetic into her tour this year, starting by opening for Tate McRae’s Miss Possessive tour, prior to the album’s release (Morowitz, 2025) – ‘some nights, she performed “Symphony” in front of an animation of jumping dolphins, similar to the ones from the infamous meme or danced with inflatable dolphins.” whilst wearing “bright beachwear and airbrushed tee shirts, adorned with rhinestone flowers and fun keychain belts”. (Morowitz, 2025)
Nostalgia and the “Mermaid Barbie”
Larsson’s new aesthetic is rooted in stimulating childhood “nostalgia and stability” for her target audience.
Whilst Larsson aims to reach a global audience, the imagery of a Midnight Sun pays homage to her home country Sweden – “The album is inspired by the real-life phenomenon of Midnight Sun, when in northern regions the sun doesn’t set for months out of the year” (Morowitz, 2025). The inspiration of an summer aesthetic is arguably authentic for the artist as she jokes in an interview with W Magazine that her and her friends are “island girls” because “Sweden has the most islands of any country, so there’s water there”. Below is an excerpt of the interview:
Here is a link to the TikTok video from which I extracted this image – the TikToker Olivia Layne goes into more detail about Larsson’s style: https://www.tiktok.com/@olivialayne6/video/7558545746744872205?q=zara%20Larsson%20baribe&t=1765443730496
The most prevalent thing that stimulates childhood nostalgia from Larsson’s new “European Hawaii look”, particularly for presumably Gen Z women/teens (roughly aged 13-28 years in 2025) is the instantaneous connection consumers have made with the barbie franchise – any young women who grew up watching these barbie films would recognise the similarities between Larsson’s new look and, in particular, the 2010 Barbie film ‘Barbie in a Mermaid Tale’.
Here is a picture of the DVD cover of ‘Barbie in a Mermaid Tale’ for reference:
This specific film, even just by scanning the movie cover art, embodies the whole essence that Larsson has tried to recreate in her new aesthetic, of “vivid colours” and “tropical fantasy” with coincidentally similar colours, patterns and landscapes used by Larsson.
Any homage to a childhood favourite of consumers is likely to make them (Gen Z in this case) want to engage with an artist’s digital output as it provides some joy and a feeling of restored innocence, especially in a media landscape which has recently been flooded with hyper sexualisation, following the rise of artists like Sabrina Carpenter Charli XCX and Tate McRae – Miranda Campbell outlines in a 2024 article by ‘Scene and Heard’ how “in 2024, pop, specifically by female artists, has become much more engrossed in depicting a radically honest account of sex”. Though Larsson arguably also sexualises herself, dressed scantily clad in most performances and doing sexually expressive choreography in her tour, there is a clear emphasis on “happiness” and “fun” which she remarked earlier.
Larsson ironically opened for Tate McRae this year and notably overshadowed her, with many commenting with shock as to how Larsson was only opening for McRae and not headlining her own shows, considering that she has been in the industry for a decade now. But in light of this wave of hyper-sexualism in pop music, it makes sense for some consumers to appreciate a reference to their childhood consumption.
While there has not been massive discourse on Larsson’s coincidental reference to this film, there have been some direct references in some posts such as this Instagram post, posted recently (2025):
Interestingly, I extracted this particular post because of the page’s direct acknowledgement of the connection between Larsson’s style and the film but the comments, and thus media discourse, also confirms this idea, with one Instagram user, from this post, commenting that “she is literally the mermaid barbie”.
Here is a link to the original Instagram post by ‘Her Campus’ which suggests the connection between Larsson’s new style and ‘Barbie in a Mermaid Tale’, calling her “our [in real life] mermaid barbie” in the caption of this post (2025): https://www.instagram.com/p/DRPu_WilTas/
Muni Long Collaboration
As this post reveals a collaged image featuring the cover art of Larsson’s collaboration with rnb singer Muni Long featured on a new version of ‘Midnight Sun’, recently released on the 14th of November, almost five months after the original single release, it confirms that idea that Larsson either has consistently been “chronically online” and has kept up with media discourse regarding her brand and has now also played into the idea of her being the “mermaid barbie”, or that she was always inspired by the look of the film itself and the connection between them has always been intentional.
Veering away from the concept of the “mermaid barbie”, one of the most interesting marketing strategies has been showcased by Muni Long and Zara Larsson, implementing key principles of the AIDA marketing model, in which the artist/label build interest and intrigue through TikTok trends and behind the scenes content to prompt action, which is, in this case streams.
Below is one of eight TikTok’s which Muni Long posted on her account, supposedly just for the love of the song, following the release of ‘Midnight Sun’ in June of this year – the excessive nature of Muni Long’s posts regarding the song was perceived to be humorous and random for the artist to be posting considering she had no involvement in the song’s writing and mixing process, nor was there any indication of a collaboration between the two artists:
But with many comments saying how the artists should do a remix together soon, it only made sense for them to monopolise over the traction gained through this intentional or unintentional marketing move. The impact of this TikTok promotion followed a new remix of the song pushed the single “all the way into the top 20 of Billboard’s Dance Charts” and has increased her likelihood of being in the Hot 100 (Rashad, 2025)
Overall, Larsson’s branding and marketing in the past year has been successful in creating a seamless new world of “tropical fantasy” and “fun”, using TikTok and a consistently fresh aesthetic to effectively rebrand and rise to fame, with chart success and award nominations – she has used informality as authenticity to connect with consumers and has taken references from Y2K to harvest nostalgia.
Bibliography:
Why Kids Keep Talking About the Symphony Dolphin Meme – https://findmykids.org/blog/en/symphony-dolphin#:~:text=The%20origins%20of%20this%20creation,a%20rainbow%20appearing%20after%20rain.
Hannah Morowitz, 2025 – Zara Larsson’s Meme Revival https://www.hercampus.com/school/west-chester/zara-larssons-meme-revival/
Aaliyah Harry, 2025 – Hello! Fashion magazine ‘The clean girl aesthetic is dead’
Your Teen Magazine, 2024 – What does chronically online mean? https://yourteenmag.com/social-media/teen-slang/what-does-chronically-online-mean\
Link to Instagram post about the connection between Larsson’s new style and ‘Barbie in a Mermaid Tale’ (2025): https://www.instagram.com/p/DRPu_WilTas/
Miranda Campbell, 2024 – Has Pop Music Gotten Sexier? https://www.sceneandheardnu.com/content/2024/11/17/has-pop-music-gotten-sexier
Annmarie Hanlon, 2025 – The AIDA model and how to apply it in the real world – https://www.smartinsights.com/traffic-building-strategy/offer-and-message-development/aida-model/
That Grape Juice. Net, 2025 – New Song: Zara Larsson & Muni Long – ‘Midnight Sun (Remix)’ https://thatgrapejuice.net/2025/11/new-song-zara-larsson-muni-long-midnight-sun-remix/
