Zara Larsson knows ball.
I was overjoyed to see some of my favorites included on the remix album to her perpetual breakout project, Midnight Sun, like vocalist diva Eli, the people’s princess PinkPantheress, and some truly underground selects like Toronto DJ BAMBII and ambient mastermind, Malibu (whose Vanities was one of The FADER’s best albums of 2025).
Malibu, alongside frequent Larsson collaborator Helena Gao, are featured on the remix to “Saturn’s Return.” Together, Larsson and co. stretch the song from a 3-minute diaristic page tear into a 6-minute-plus odyssey, awash in reverb soaked synths and earthen bass. The remix has a moving, existential dreaminess, evoking Madonna’s Ray Of Light's psychedelic sunniness.
Malibu, a master of creating sonic expanse, helps create a bed for Larsson and Gao (who co-wrote the original song) to sing of life’s ongoing uncovering mystery. “Like a parachute, I'm about to jump/ I just fall, fall, fall,” Gao sings in a rising falsetto on her guest verse. As the song unfurls, it dissolves into pure steam, becoming a true sound bath, composed of nothing but vocal layers, pads, and stomach rumbling bass.
Larsson tapping an artist like Malibu, who is mainly venerated in experimental music circles, is a pretty bold choice for a main pop girl. But it makes sense given that Larsson is quite explicitly moving from a place of top 40 hitmaking to a more enduring state of artistic worldbuilding. Her Midnight Sun atmosphere, with its Swedish fjords, Lisa Frank artwork, and her sparkly charms, is all part of that. But working with such deep cut artists and demonstrating such clarity of vision is what’s keeping Larsson’s Swedish sun shining well past midnight.
