Zara Larsson brought the house down with her Grammy performance of Midnight Sun, and there is so much we can learn from her vocal technique.
Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned singer, breaking down what Zara Larsson does with her voice in this performance will give you real, actionable tools to improve your own singing. Let’s dive into the key vocal techniques she used and how you can start practicing them at home.
Vocal Agility and Melisma in Midnight Sun
One of the first things that stands out in this performance is Zara Larsson’s incredible vocal agility. She uses beautiful melismas, which are those fast, decorative runs where a singer moves through several notes on a single syllable.
What makes her melismas so effective is that she is essentially doodling around the notes of a particular scale. If you want to develop this kind of agility in your own voice, the key is to start slow. Sing each note individually, get comfortable with the pitch of every note in the run, and then gradually speed it up over time.
It sounds obvious, but many singers do not go slow enough when they practice. Taking it note by note is how you build the muscle memory Zara Larsson demonstrates so effortlessly in Midnight Sun.
Vocal Precision and the Power of Practice
Every single note in this performance of Midnight Sun was bang on. That level of precision does not come from talent alone. It comes from years of dedicated, consistent practice. Two things tend to hold singers back from achieving this kind of accuracy:
- Not practicing frequently enough to build consistency.
- Not practicing slowly enough to internalize each pitch before speeding up.
Zara Larsson has been doing this for a long time, and it shows. If you struggle with pitch accuracy, consider using a pitch training app. A great free option is Nail the Pitch, available on both Android and Apple. It lets you see your pitch visually while you sing, which is incredibly helpful for building awareness and control.
Falsetto, Chest Voice, and the Passaggio
A huge part of what makes Midnight Sun so captivating is how Zara Larsson transitions between her falsetto and chest voice. In the lower parts of the song, she slips easily into a warm chest voice, while the higher notes float into a light, easy falsetto. This works so well because the song is placed in a sweet spot of her vocal range, meaning the key suits her voice perfectly.
For singers learning this song, the placement of the key is everything. The higher notes, which sit in falsetto, need to land above your passaggio (the break point between chest and head voice), and the lower notes need to sit comfortably below it.
If you are finding it really difficult to navigate that flip from chest voice into falsetto, try the song in a different key. Playing around with key selection can make a massive difference.
Understanding Thyroid Tilt
Zara Larsson uses a technique known as thyroid tilt to create her sung tone. Thyroid tilt happens when the thyroid cartilage (located where your Adam’s apple is, where the vocal folds live) tips forward. This is what creates a sound that feels like actual singing rather than just speaking on pitch. It adds that characteristic warmth and resonance to the voice, even when singing in the same part of your range where you would normally speak. Paying attention to this tilt is one of the things that separates a trained vocal approach from simply matching notes.
Tongue Position and Mouth Shape
Throughout Midnight Sun, Zara Larsson demonstrates excellent tongue position. Her tongue sits forward in the mouth, touching the back of the bottom teeth, and is slightly splayed during the lower parts of the song.
This is crucial because in the lower range, it is important to lower the larynx without pushing the tongue down. Pushing the tongue down to force the larynx lower is a common mistake that can cause tension and a muffled sound.
She also opens up into a wider mouth shape during certain phrases, and her tongue becomes slightly more tense in those moments. That tension is intentional; it is the disruption of the airflow by the tongue that creates the specific tonal quality she is going for.
The Art of Twang
In several moments during this Midnight Sun performance, Zara Larsson uses twang to add punch and presence to her sound, especially lower in her range. Twang is created by squeezing the area just above the vocal folds (the aryepiglottic sphincter) at the back of the throat. Think of it like channeling a slightly nasal, brassy quality. Some key things to know about twang:
- It creates a louder sound without needing to push more air.
- It brings the vocal folds closer together for a more focused tone.
- It can be applied in varying degrees, from subtle brightness to a very forward, edgy sound.
- It is especially useful for adding attitude and presence in pop and contemporary singing.
In Midnight Sun, Zara Larsson uses twang to give certain lines more edge and brassiness, almost like an attitude coming through the constriction. It is a technique that fits the style of the music perfectly.
Belt and the Yell Belt
When it comes to belting, Zara Larsson delivers some powerful moments in this Grammy performance. She uses what is known as a yell belt, which is characterized by a more open vowel shape (like an “ah” sound), a long held note, and little to no vibrato until the very end of the note. It sounds, as the name suggests, like a controlled yell.
Belt is a loud vocal quality that happens when the vocal folds are thicker than usual. This occurs because the cricoid cartilage (a ring shaped cartilage sitting below the thyroid) tips backward, thickening the vocal folds. That thickness is what gives belt its characteristic power.
You can see Zara Larsson pulling her microphone away from her mouth during these moments because belt is inherently loud, and managing the microphone distance is part of the technique.
Breathing and Subglottic Pressure
One of the more subtle but essential elements of Zara Larsson’s technique in Midnight Sun is her breathing. You can see her engage her abdominal muscles, but she is not gripping with the rectus abdominis (the six pack muscles). This is an important distinction. Many singers mistakenly clench their abs to try to create power, but that actually creates tension and restricts the sound.
Instead, the goal is to pressurize the chest cavity by gently engaging the pelvic floor and using the upper chest and back muscles to keep the ribs from collapsing too quickly. Those short, sharp breaths she takes between phrases help activate the upper chest area and maintain rib expansion.
It is about pressurizing the chamber, not pushing air out. This kind of breath support is what enables the subglottic pressure (pressure below the vocal folds) needed for powerful chest voice and belt sounds.
Aspirate Offsets and Stylistic Choices
Zara Larsson adds lovely stylistic touches to Midnight Sun, including aspirate offsets at the ends of phrases. This is where she lets out a little sigh of air at the end of a note, giving the phrase a breathy, emotional release.
It mimics the natural human sigh, the kind we make when we are relaxed or content, and it adds a layer of intimacy and feeling to the performance. It is a subtle but effective way to inject personal style into a song.
Imploding Consonants and Microphone Technique
An often overlooked aspect of pop singing is how you handle consonants, especially plosives like the letter T. Zara Larsson uses an imploding T, which means she draws the air inward rather than pushing it outward when she hits that consonant.
This is essential for microphone work because plosive consonants can create harsh popping sounds in the mic. Since there is no pop filter on her live microphone, this technique keeps her sound clean and professional. Learning to manage your consonants is a vital part of contemporary vocal technique.
Jaw Relaxation and Myofunctional Training
Throughout much of the Midnight Sun performance, Zara Larsson maintains a calm, collected jaw. A tense jaw is a recipe for vocal trouble; it can create a pressed, strained sound and limit your agility. While there are moments where a little jaw movement creeps in, the overall approach is one of relaxation and control.
To build this kind of jaw independence, myofunctional training exercises are incredibly helpful. These exercises strengthen the tongue, jaw, and articulators so that each can function independently without unnecessary tension. They are simple enough to do daily, even in the car, and over time they help the jaw learn to relax and let the other muscles do the work.
Mixing Vocal Qualities for Flexibility
At the end of the performance, Zara Larsson transitions from belting into lighter, more flexible vocal qualities to execute fast melismas and runs. This is because belting, while powerful, is not the most agile vocal quality. To navigate quick runs, she shifts into more of a mix voice and even a lighter head voice quality.
This kind of vocal flexibility, knowing when to shift gears between different qualities, is what allows a singer to be both powerful and nimble within the same song. It is a masterclass in understanding that Midnight Sun demands different colors at different moments.
If you want to learn more about how you can learn to implement these singing techniques into your own voice, let’s sit down for a chat and discuss if the vocal academy is the right fit for you. You can join us here.