Zara Larsson went from child talent-show winner to owning her catalogue
In 2022 Zara Larsson left the Swedish label that had signed her at 15 and acquired her own music catalogue. Her next album, Venus, came out in 2024 on her own imprint, Sommer House, and the one after it gave her a Grammy nomination and her highest solo placing on the US Hot 100. It all began on television.
Born in Solna in 1997 and raised south of Stockholm, Larsson studied at the Royal Swedish Ballet School until 15 and named Carola Haggkvist and Whitney Houston as early idols. From age five, she said, she wanted to be immortal like Elvis. At ten she won the 2008 season of Talang, the Swedish version of Got Talent, taking 500,000 kronor, and her cover of My Heart Will Go On from the final became her first single.
Early fame did not open every door. Her manager took her to Los Angeles to meet Disney and the three major record companies, and none offered a contract, which Larsson later blamed on her age. Instead she signed with TEN Music Group in 2012. Her debut EP was unveiled that December through a plain studio video of her singing Uncover in one continuous take; the song reached number one in Sweden and Norway, and the EP sold over 120,000 copies at home.
The international leap came through Epic Records. Lush Life reached the top five in 18 countries, and Never Forget You, recorded with MNEK, also topped the Swedish chart. In 2017 her guest vocal on Clean Bandit's Symphony gave her a first UK number one, and her second album, So Good, arrived that March. Time named her among its 30 most influential teens of 2016, and she twice sang at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo.
Her later work kept growing. Midnight Sun, released in 2025, won wide acclaim, and in 2026 a collaboration with PinkPantheress topped the Billboard Global 200. In Sweden she has collected five number-one singles, three chart-topping albums and four Grammis awards.
Source: Zara Larsson
