Zara Larsson ‘Crush’ Meaning: Catching Feelings You Won’t Act On

A pop rush with a boundary: a crush that stays a crush.

Quick facts

Release: 15 August 2025
Length: 2:57
Album: Midnight Sun (26 September 2025)
Label: Sommer House / Epic

A neat pop rush with a line drawn through the middle. Zara Larsson’s ‘Crush’ arrived on 15 August 2025 as the season’s third Midnight Sun teaser. It’s built to loop; Apple Music clocks it at 2:57.

“I can’t lose him to a fantasy.”
“It will never be us.”
“That’s why they call it a crush.”

Listen to ‘Crush’ on Spotify.

The writing stays plain on purpose. She names the spark, calls it what it is, and leaves the door shut.

iHeartRadio framed the song as a “fantasy” that threatens a good thing -the lyric backs that up, measuring want against consequence.

The sound is springy and close, soft drums and keys keeping a light step while the vocal hides a secret.

Under the polish you can hear the hesitation; the little pause before a name, the smile that doesn’t quite stick.

Written by Zara Larsson, Helena Gao, Uzoechi “MNEK” Emenike, Margo Wildman, and Kevin Hickey, produced by Zhone and Margo XS, with Troy Taylor on vocal production; mixed by Tom Norris and mastered by Randy Merrill.

On video, director Grant James Thomas leans into a playful little horror-romance: a house, a scurry, a chase; temptation as a tiny intruder you can’t quite catch.

Fans have already clocked the (very online) theory that the spider is the crush itself. The feeling that shows up uninvited, gets chased around, and never quite leaves.

Crush slots in after ‘Pretty Ugly’ and ‘Midnight Sun’ as part of the run-up to the album on 26 September 2025, with Zara juggling Tate McRae support dates and her own Europe plans.

What it’s about, in a sentence: the thrill that stays unspent, wanting someone and choosing not to move.