Zara Larsson is a Harmony Korine fan. Not only was Spring Breakers on the moodboard for her new swimwear line, she also chose the film’s location – the sunshine state of Florida – to shoot the collection’s campaign. “It’s the most bonkers place ever. Wherever you look it’s some weird shit going on,” she says of Miami, straight after waxing lyrical about the film’s influence on her. “I just love that whole aesthetic,” the singer says. “I love the styling. I love that it feels young and free and a little messy.”

Over the last year, Larsson has been undergoing a fashion “rebrand”, at least according to many online commentators. Her style and the Spring Breakers aesthetic can’t be perfectly mapped onto each other, but the Swedish pop star’s embrace of a summer-centric wardrobe over the last 18 months has resonated with her fans and the wider public, who, by Larsson’s own admission, had struggled to engage with her as a person beside her radio hits. Though the fashion is fun and carefree, the singer has been “more disciplined” during this era, sticking to one strong aesthetic rather than floating between many styles – and that’s what she believes people have really responded to.

Larsson’s new, summer-centred aesthetic is a product of her fifth studio album, last September’s Midnight Sun, whose sleeper success has taken her from pop’s middle class to one of the biggest stars on the planet. With the album – and its effervescent, exuberant title track – Larsson finally assumed the position in culture that could back up her many hits. she also became the unofficial queen of summer, a status she has cemented by moving into swimwear with her brand Main Rose.

A month after the release of Midnight Sun, Larsson quickly established herself in the fashion space by co-founding Main Rose with entrepreneur Ben Eliass. Starting out with intimates and underwear, she followed her  instincts into the swimwear space. In the conversation below, we catch up with Larsson about the cinematic influences behind the collection and campaign, the many TikToks dissecting her fashion “rebrand” – and she finally clears up whether that dolphin meme really inspired her aesthetic.

Before we get into the new swim collection, why did you want to launch your own brand in the first place?

Zara Larsson: I was hanging out with my friends at home in Stockholm, and I got introduced to Ben [Eliass], our co-founder, and we started talking about creating something really fun. I’ve been the face of a few brands before, but I’ve never created something of my own. Funnily enough, speaking of sex and relationships, we started talking about women’s pleasure and intimacy, and stuff that just feels good. Underwear was one of them. We also started talking about sex toys.

Because it’s very new, Main Rose is such a fun playground to make anything that feels natural and nice, but rooted in some sort of pleasure and intimacy. I’m still really open to exploring the whole sexual pleasure thing [in the future]. But we started off with underwear and intimates, because it felt really easy and natural. My ultimate outfit is just, like, a pair of panties. Everybody who knows me, they know the second I come home, all my clothes come off, and I’m just in underwear. That’s how I relax.

“The ‘queen of summer’ thing kind of just happened. It’s funny to say that in hindsight, because now it feels so natural” – Zara Larsson

Going into swimwear feels like a natural extension of your brand, especially considering the aesthetic of Midnight Sun.

Zara Larsson: I’ve realised that to be an artist and to have a brand is different than just making music or having products. It’s the world you build around it that people can step into. Main Rose has been really fun to help me explore that side of building the universe, because it’s more than just ‘release a panty’. We started off with underwear, and now, since I’m some sort of self-proclaimed ‘queen of summer’ – it’s like a part of my identity at this point – obviously swimwear had to come next. It’s just the natural evolution.

Did you plan on becoming the queen of summer when making the album, or did that kind of just happen?

Zara Larsson: It kind of just happened. It’s funny to say that in hindsight, because now it feels so natural and obvious that that’s what it was going to be. The thing is, my album was made around “Midnight Sun”, one of the first songs I wrote for the album. After I did that song, I knew that it was the centerpiece of the project. But the album in itself isn’t really ‘summer, summer, summer, summer’. It’s about many different things. But “Midnight Sun” really became the girl – and as she should.

I was sent the moodboard for the new collection, and, amongst other things, there’s a picture of you front and centre. Are you your own favourite reference?

Zara Larsson: Wait, I wanna see that mood board. I wonder which one you got sent. But, yes, sometimes! Especially for Main Rose, because I’m such a big part of it, it has to represent me and who I am. When we started out, I had this vision of it being quite Scandinavian, minimalistic, between accessible and premium – elevated. I still want that feeling but, actually, I’m not the typical Scandinavian, Swedish girly, in all black and very sleek – I like a bit of fun. With the swim collection, we could allow ourselves to be more colourful and fun.

Charlotte Rutherford, who you’ve worked with a lot this era, was back to shoot the campaign. How important is she in building the Midnight Sun world?

Zara Larsson: I really wanted Charlotte to shoot it. She’s done everything for me this era. My covers, my videos – everything visual in the Midnight Sun world. I was like, ‘she needs to do the swimwear campaign’, so my world as an artist and Main Rose can speak to each other. I want it to feel like an extension of me. But that’s also something that’s going to be exciting to keep building. Like what is me, and what is Main Rose, and how are they connected?

In being an extension of you, were you ever worried about it coming across like your own merch rather than a standalone fashion brand?

Zara Larsson: I think it’s a lot more elevated than that. Like, my face isn’t on the thing [laughs]. Or my name. In a dream world I want Main Rose to be heavily influenced by me, but also way bigger than me.

“When ‘Midnight Sun’ came out and people were like, ‘oh my god, the dolphin meme’, I thought, you know what, maybe somewhere, subconsciously, that dolphin was making a home in my brain” – Zara Larsson

Alongside the music, a big part of the success of this era has been the fashion and how much people have connected with your aesthetic. I’m sure you’ve seen the TikTok comments like, ‘that dolphin meme changed her life’. So, can you once and for all confirm or deny whether the “Symphony” dolphin meme was the inspo for the aesthetic?

Zara Larsson: Hand on my heart, it was not. That’s what’s so crazy.

Really!?

Zara Larsson: It really wasn’t! I was very inspired by Madonna’s “Ray of Light” for the “Midnight Sun” video, and internet culture in general, but it really wasn’t anything I was trying to recreate. Me and Charlotte were just having fun. But then when it came out and people were like, ‘oh my god, the dolphin meme’, I though, you know what, maybe somewhere, subconsciously, that dolphin was making a home in my brain. Because I see it. Of course I see it. It’s the beautiful colours, it’s the sunset, it’s the water.

So instead of being like, ‘no, guys, you’re wrong’, I embraced it. It’s actually really fun that people brought it up because it makes them feel like they’re a part of my journey, almost creating the aesthetic with me in a way. So I just completely adopted the vision for that, and now the dolphin is my mascot.

And on your style evolution in general, I’m sure you’ve also seen the TikToks of people making compilations of how you used to dress a few years ago vs now, to illustrate your “rebrand”.

Zara Larsson: But they always pick the fucking most hideous outfits from the last ten years! I’m like, girls, really?

Is that weird? Most people’s awkward style phases aren’t publicly dissected in the open like that.

Zara Larsson: Totally, totally. And you know what? I’m actually quite happy about it. Because, in a lot of ways, they’re right. My problem is that I love everything. I really love everything! I love every type of music, I love every type of fashion, every type of style – I have no discipline. And what helped me in this era is that I’ve locked in to one thing, instead of ‘today I’m gonna be all-black leather, tomorrow I’m gonna be cutesy cotton dress cottagecore’. I think that’s really what helped me.

But I love what I wear. I’ve always loved colour, I’ve always loved extra-ness, sparkles, glitter, fluff – that is so me. But I’m also telling myself: you can’t go in every single direction every single day. Pick one. I’ve just been a lot more disciplined this era, and I love that people can see that. People say ‘rebrand’, but I always say ‘I don’t think it’s a rebrand because I didn’t really have a brand [to begin with].’ I think this is just me solidifying what I really like. And I think people respond to it because it’s so authentic and genuine – at least that’s how I feel.

Scroll through the gallery above for the entire Main Rose swimwear campaign