Pop star Zara Larsson’s 2015 hit Lush Life has been rising up the charts (number nine on the UK Official Singles Charts as of the time of writing), and is currently all over my TikTok feed.

Videos of fans dancing to the song’s new choreo keep going viral – the first one I saw was in November last year, and involved a woman named Julia Coster.

Now, I cannot get either Lush Life’s catchy chords or Zara’s infectiously fun stage performances out of my head. Which is, to be frank, unexpected.

Zara herself recently mentioned coming out of the “Khia asylum,” an internet meme referring to supposed pop star irrelevancy, after opening for Tate McRae. This came alongside the launch of the new album Midnight Sun, the lead track of which is having its own viral moment.

Now, her dolphin meme-inspired tour and very un-“clean girl” makeup have drawn the attention (and devotion) of TikTokers, some of whom claim Lush Life “saved 2025” for them.

Here, we spoke to Professor of Screen Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr Kirsty Fairclough, who specialises in the intersection of screen culture, popular music, film, and celebrity, about why Zara reached “It Girl” status a decade after her first round of chart-toppers.

Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill and Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder On The Dancefloor (heavily featured in Stranger Things and Saltburn, respectively) previously soared up the charts after TikTok rediscovered the bangers.

But those reemergences were led by huge TV shows and movies, not the artists themselves or their tours.

Per Professor Fairclough, this is a “symptom of how pop time now works” and indicates how Gen Z “engages pop culture through affect, irony, and algorithmic circulation rather than linear pop history”.

“On platforms like TikTok, pop is rarely consumed as ‘new’ or ‘old.’ Instead, it circulates as mood, meme, or embodied pleasure – something you dance to, cosplay, or repurpose,” Fairclough explains.

Fans have enjoyed posting clips of their “Zara Larssification”, based on her Sophia Sinot-created new makeup style, while Lush Life’s accompanying dance is mega-viral.

“Larsson’s own framing of her comeback – joking about leaving the ’Khia asylum… is especially telling,” Prof Fairclough continues.

“What Gen Z seems to be responding to now is not a redemption narrative in the traditional sense, but an artist visibly in on the joke: self-aware, playful, and unafraid of camp.”

Indeed, Zara and PinkPantheress’ recent collab Stateside includes the lines: “Who knew opening up [for Tate McRae] would make me a headline”.

Even the star’s new dolphin meme-inspired album cover, made in collaboration with artist Lisa Frank, speaks to her self-awareness: the iconic internet image was ironically placed alongside depressing statements and Zara Larsson’s 2017 song Symphony to create Gen Z memes.

Some younger fans also seem to have a bit of nostalgia for the mid-2010s, which is longer-lasting and broader than just Zara Larsson.

This, Professor Fairclough said, is not accidental. For many younger fans, she said, this “is not lived memory but inherited memory – an archive of pop optimism, pre-pandemic innocence, and maximalist pleasure accessed retrospectively.

“Nostalgia here is not about longing for one’s own past, but about affiliating with a vibe that feels less anxious, less moralised, and less relentlessly productive than the present.”

But, she stressed, Zara’s moment in the (midnight) sun “is not about belated recognition or overdue justice. It is about alignment.

“Lush Life fits a Gen Z sensibility that values fun over polish, irony over aspiration, and collective participation over star distance. The song’s viral afterlife suggests that contemporary pop stardom is no longer secured at the moment of release – but can be activated, reactivated, and reclaimed when an artist’s persona, audience, and platform finally fall into sync.

“What we are witnessing, then, is not a comeback in the traditional industry sense, but a recalibration of pop value itself – where relevance is cyclical, authorship is shared with fans, and the archive is always live.”