Zara Maria Larsson is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Born on December 16, 1997, she showed interest in music from a young age, even receiving an offer to enroll in the prestigious Adolf Fredrik’s Music School. At the age of 10, she came to prominence by winning the 2008 series of Talang, the Swedish version of the Got Talent franchise. Her first release was a cover of Céline Dion’s hit, “My Heart Will Go On,” under the name Zara.

Instead of launching straight into her career as a recording artist, she held off on releasing further material–to her disappointment–until late 2012 with her first original song, “Uncover.” Eventually certified 6x Platinum in her native Sweden, her debut EP, Introducing, was released in January 2013.

After signing to the American label Epic Records and supporting Cher Lloyd on her North American tour, she released her second EP, Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself later that year.

Her debut album 1 followed in October 2014, featuring 14 tracks including “Uncover” and the singles “Rooftop,” “Carry You Home” and “She’s Not Me.” As the album was released exclusively in Scandinavia, the rest of the world received a consolidated Uncover EP the following January.

Not long after the EP’s release, Zara began working on a follow-up to her debut that would be released worldwide. “Lush Life” initially found limited success in Scandinavia, but by March of the following year, it had become a success across Europe, reaching the top 3 in the UK. She enjoyed further success with her MNEK collaboration, “Never Forget You,” which became her first UK chart entry. So Good was eventually released in March 2017 as her official international debut album; alongside the aforementioned singles, it also featured “Ain’t My Fault,” “I Would Like,” and the UK #1 single “Symphony” (with Clean Bandit).

Zara spent much of the latter half of 2017 touring So Good and commencing work on her third album. In October 2018, the album’s lead single, “Ruin My Life,” was released. On March 5, 2021, her third studio album, Poster Girl, was released, containing the singles “Ruin My Life,” “Don’t Worry Bout Me,” “WOW,” and “All the Time.” The album reached the top three in Sweden and the top 12 in the UK. The deluxe edition, Poster Girl (Summer Edition), was released two months later, on May 21, 2021.

On April 22, 2022, Larsson collaborated with Swedish DJ Alesso to release the single “Words.” The song peaked at number 5 on the Swedish singles chart and reached the top 40 in several other countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Hungary, and Flanders.

In 2023, after changing labels and founding her own label, Sommer House, she released the singles “Can’t Tame Her” and “End of Time,” followed by “On My Love,” which she released in collaboration with David Guetta. Larsson won the International Music category at the 75th Bambi Awards on November 16 in Munich, Germany. She was honored for her impact as a pop artist and performed her song “On My Love” at the ceremony.

On December 1, 2023, Zara released her holiday-themed EP, Honor The Light. The project was a commercial success, spending three weeks as number 1 on the Swedish album charts.

One year after the release of the single “Can’t Tame Her,” Zara announced her fourth studio album, VENUS, would be released on February 9, 2024. Containing the singles “Can’t Tame Her,” “End of Time,” and “On My Love,” The album was described by Larsson as a “full-on rollercoaster ride of emotion.” The rest of 2024 she spent touring the album on her Venus Tour.

On September 26, 2025, after releasing the singles “Pretty Ugly,” “Midnight Sun,” and “Crush,” Zara released her fifth studio album Midnight Sun, after announcing it a few months prior.

Zara Larsson and PinkPantheress teamed up on a remix of “Stateside,” released on 16 January 2026, as part of PinkPantheress’ remix album Fancy Some More?

Zara earned her first Grammy nomination on November 7, 2025, for the song “Midnight Sun” in the category of Best Dance Pop Recording. Larsson performed the song she was nominated for at the Grammys.

After her self-named “flop era,” Larsson regained fame in mid-November 2025 when the dance from her 2015 hit “Lush Life” went viral on TikTok after a fan, Julia Coster, joined her on stage during a show of the Midnight Sun Tour in Amsterdam.

On April 22, 2026, four months after revealing in a Spotify interview that a deluxe edition of Midnight Sun was in the works, Larsson announced on Instagram that it would be released on May 1, 2026, named Midnight Sun: Girls Trip. The deluxe features reimagined versions of songs from Midnight Sun, along with female features including PinkPantheress, Shakira, Tyla and Madison Beer.