Dancing Dolphins and the Power of Social Media Trends

Is your TikTok and Instagram feed suddenly full of the song Lush Life again? There’s a reason for that. Last week, a video from the Zara Larsson concert in the Netherlands went viral at lightning speed. During her show, Zara, like always, asked someone from the audience to come on stage and dance with her during Lush Life. This time, the chosen young woman turned out to be a natural dancer, and within 24 hours the video had captured not only the Netherlands but all of Europe. Zara played along cleverly and shared the dance on her own channels, after which more videos from upcoming shows on her tour started popping up and brands eagerly joined in. The cheerful, nostalgic sound and the simple dance turned out to be the ideal formula for a global trend.

It’s not the first time Zara has gone viral. A year earlier, her older hit Symphony made an unexpected comeback thanks to the “dolphin trend”: hyper cheerful content of a jumping dolphin with rainbows, combined with ironically dark captions like “I am depressed.” That mix of colour, humour and self-irony suited perfectly with Gen Z and Alpha. Zara immediately incorporated the trend into her branding, visuals, and tour design. The trend was reflected in her online image.

The combination of her sunny image, upbeat music, and the new dance videos is now bringing a wave of light, nostalgic energy to social media, during the dark days before the holiday season. Both examples surrounding the artist show that the right way of riding the strange waves of social media and trends can absolutely work, especially for younger generations. As a result of these viral videos, several of Zara’s tracks are trending again.

For brands and creators, this is a clear signal: not every trend needs to fit your branding perfectly or be claimed entirely, but if the humour or emotion resonates, you can gain massive visibility among Gen Z and Alpha by moving along smartly. Flexibility is worth gold these days.