The Meaning Behind “Midnight Sun” by Zara Larsson and Celebrating Sweden’s Long Summer Days

In “Midnight Sun”, pop star Zara Larsson enjoys Sweden’s long summer days. Taking advantage of her country’s very late sunsets, the nostalgic track shimmers with synths and offers global listeners a glimpse of how the Swedes summer on the peninsula.

The title track of Larsson’s fifth studio album became a hit in multiple countries, exporting the warmth of Sweden’s lingering sun around the world.

Golden Hour

We typically associate midnight with darkness—at night with the revelers, the vampires, and the nightmares. But not here. “Midnight Sun” opens with Larsson and her partner on a road trip. No drugs needed as the singer enjoys Sweden’s long summer hours. Why escape inside a hallucination when the daydream features endless rays of light?  

No nightmares when you can still see the light,
Can’t find me, I’m not in the city tonight.
I like your playlist, boy, turn it up a little louder,
Road’s empty, so you drive a little faster.
Ain’t taken nothing tonight, but I’m feeling so high.

Parts of Sweden experience 24-hour daylight. But even below the Arctic Circle, the sky remains bright until around 10:00 P.M. in July.

Show my tan lines, low-rise, rooftop down,
It’s golden hour all the time.

Here, Larsson wants to cherish the summer before it ends. She shares the experience with a partner. But reading this can also be interpreted as gratitude for being held by nature.

It’s the midnight sun-kissed skin under the red sky,
Laying on your chest like this.
Hold me like the pebbles in your hand, initials in the sand, yeah,
Summer isn’t over yet.
Skinny-dipping with your heart out, it’s my favorite part now,
We ain’t gotta tell no one,
A never-ending midnight sun.

By the Moon and the Stars

Moreover, “Midnight Sun” celebrates being alive. Larsson told Paper, “It sounds like a love song but really it’s a song for the love of life. It’s very me in my country house in Sweden, enjoying a Swedish summer night where the sun never sets, and that’s literally what it is.”

Connected, I’m so in touch with it all,
Feel protected by the moon and the stars.

Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage