Zara Larsson on MTV VMA nod, Tate and her upcoming tour: ‘I wanna give the crowd everything’

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It’s a busy weekend for Zara Larsson: She’s opening for Tate McRae in Philadelphia on Saturday, and on Sunday, she’ll attend the MTV VMAs, where her video for “Pretty Ugly” is up for best choreography.

“I was so, so happy because it was my first song that I released from this era,” she says of the nod. “And it’s very different from what I’ve released before. It’s quite obnoxious, but I just felt like it would do a lot for me artistically.”

The song and the video, choreographed by Zoï Tatopoulos, are “a lot of energy,” Zara notes. “It’s kind of this song where I just kind of kick the door down, and having that recognized at the VMAs is really big for me.”

As for her stint opening for Tate, the “Crush” singer thinks she and the Canadian pop queen are a “match made in heaven.”

“I feel like our fans really kind of overlap … obviously, they bought tickets to see Tate … a girl who is such a performer, and that’s what I strive to be,” she says. “[We both] dance a lot, sing up-tempo pop songs, so I feel like [fans] are really enjoying it.”

Plus, it’s a good advertisement for her own Midnight Sun tour in early 2026: “I can be like, ‘If you want to see the full thing, come and see me!"” she laughs, adding, “I do feel like this whole era is some sort of reintroduction to, especially, America because I really haven’t been touring much here at all.”

“I just wanna give the crowd everything I can,” says Zara, who plans a show that mixes “warm and organic” and “cool futuristic:” “It’s gonna be fun to see how we’re gonna mix those two things.” 

Tickets are on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

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