Zara Larsson Blasts Trump for Turning “Midnight Sun” Into ICE Propaganda
It’s hard to piss off Swedes, but Trump has done it. Zara Larsson is ticked off with President Donald Trump for using “Midnight Sun” and twisting it into a video celebrating immigration arrests. The clip paired her song with footage of ICE agents detaining undocumented immigrants, and intentionally turning a record about human connection into what Larsson considered dehumanizing political propaganda.
“I’m just sad. My heart is heavy seeing that, because I wish I could speak to whoever made that video,” Larsson told Variety. “I wish I could talk to you, and I wish I could help you remember that you and I, we aren’t that different. And we’re not that different from the people in the video, either. The biggest difference between us is that we were dealt a different hand in life.”
The 28-year-old Swedish singer said her own opportunities had as much to do with luck as anything else. She was born in Sweden, received an education and was able to build a career that allows her to travel the world. The immigrants being arrested by Trump’s government, she argued, were simply dealt a more difficult hand and were trying to improve their families’ lives.
“I just don’t understand how it could be the worst thing in the world to be an undocumented immigrant,” Larsson told Variety. “This video is so dehumanizing.”
Larsson was especially angry that the administration selected “Midnight Sun,” a song she wrote about feeling connected to nature, the universe and other human beings. “These people in the video are real people,” she said. “There’s a fucking guy in there with construction wear. He’s working. These people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs, and they’re just trying to have a better future.” She accused the White House of turning human suffering into a meme before offering her blunt verdict: “You guys are such fucking losers.”
It was not Larsson’s first fight with Trump’s social-media operation. Earlier in the year, the White House used “Lush Life” in a video of Trump dancing while pro-administration messages appeared onscreen, including “WE LOVE ICE and our law enforcement!” Larsson responded with an Instagram post declaring her support for immigrants, trans people, abortion rights, queer people, contraception and social welfare before concluding, “I fucking hate ICE.”
The argument erupted just days after Larsson performed at Rock in Rio. The Swedish pop star reached the Sunset Stage close to midnight Sunday (9/13) after nearly a full day of rain had soaked Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Park. Dressed in Brazilian colors and hot pink, Larsson opened with “Midnight Sun” and asked the fans who remained to help her turn the gloomy festival grounds into something bright and summery.
Larsson, vocals, age 28, was backed by an all-woman band and used noticeably fewer prerecorded tracks than many of the festival’s pop acts. The individual musicians were not credited in the available coverage, so their names and ages cannot be confirmed. Larsson supplied the singing, choreography and relentless energy required to keep a rain-soaked audience moving near midnight.
Rock in Rio’s Cidade do Rock occupies the Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca, the sprawling complex constructed for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The festival has used the grounds since 2017 and can accommodate approximately 100,000 people per day. The 2026 edition attracted more than 700,000 people across seven days, continuing a history that began when the original Rock in Rio drew approximately 1.38 million people in 1985.
The abbreviated festival performance moved quickly through “Can’t Tame Her,” Tyla’s “She Did It Again,” “I Would Like,” “Hot & Sexy,” “Wow,” “Ain’t My Fault” and “Pretty Ugly.” Larsson climbed onto a car-shaped platform with her dancers, worked both ends of the stage and frequently allowed the crowd to take over the vocals.
“Never Forget You” and “Blue Moon” slowed the pace before “Symphony” produced the night’s sweetest moment. Larsson invited a fan onstage who admitted she could not speak English but had no trouble dancing with her. Larsson eventually returned to “Midnight Sun,” closing the performance with the same song she had used to create a little artificial summer at the beginning.
Larsson became famous in Sweden after winning Talang, the country’s version of Got Talent, at age 10. Her albums are 1 (2014), So Good (2017), Poster Girl (2021), Venus (2024) and Midnight Sun (2025). “Lush Life,” “Never Forget You,” “Ain’t My Fault” and her Clean Bandit collaboration “Symphony” made her a global streaming star, while Midnight Sun established a clearer identity for the woman singing those hits.
“Midnight Sun” earned Larsson her first Grammy nomination, for Best Dance Pop Recording. She performed the song during the 2026 Grammy Premiere Ceremony but lost the award to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra.” Larsson has not won a Grammy.
Upcoming dates:
9/18-9/19 iHeartRadio Music Festival, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV
9/26 All Things Go, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
9/29-9/30 Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
10/13-10/14 Riverstage, Brisbane, Australia
10/15 Afterpay Arena, Sydney, Australia
10/17 Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia
10/18 Entertainment Centre Theatre, Adelaide, Australia
10/20 Perth HPC, Perth, Australia
10/22 Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia
10/23 Afterpay Arena, Sydney, Australia
10/25-10/26 Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand
Videos:
“Midnight Sun” — official music video
“Midnight Sun” — live from Lollapalooza Chicago
“Midnight Sun” — 2026 Grammy Awards performance
Larsson’s latest official music video is the Winx Club version of “Midnight Sun”, released August 21.
more on… Variety