Why Branding is a Significant Part of a Celebrity’s Career: Zara Larsson

Zara Larsson is a Swedish superstar who dominated the early 2010s with her pop hits, “Lush Life”, “Never Forget You”, and “Symphony”. Her songs were ubiquitous from 2014 to 2017 and she was immensely popular, known for her catchy and exciting songs that were dubbed “songs of the summer”. From 2018 to 2025, Zara Larsson’s fame began to collapse, however, considering her albums were not receiving as many streams and her sales were at a record-low for her career. Her career slowly began to die and other pop stars began to take her spot as a refreshing new artist. In 2025, a trend began to hit social media apps including TikTok featuring one of Zara’s most popular songs “Symphony”. This trend became worldwide, getting the attention of different brands and even the artist herself. The trend featured a variety of bright colors, like pinks, yellows, and blues associated with dolphins. The humorous factor of the trend is that the person would pair this extremely vibrant landscape with a description that would be considered extremely negative, contributing to a satirical tone. These bright colors, paired with the dolphins became associated with Zara very quickly and Zara made the decision to capitalize off of this trend with the release of her new album “Midnight Sun”. She tapped into the vibe of the dolphins and bright colors and created a song that mirrored her old pop “songs of the summer”, instantly producing another global sensation. Now, Zara Larsson has a sold-out tour, an extremely successful feature with artist PinkPantheress, called “Stateside”, and amassing over 65 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Her new persona has become extremely popular and her fame has reached levels that it never has before, even at the peak of her career. She is the 9th female artist in the world and became the first Swedish artist to surpass 60 million followers. It is safe to say that Zara’s decision to follow the trends demonstrates how branding can impact someone’s career and allow them to go from a flopping artist to an international star.