Lorde debuts first solo single in nearly four years
By Jessica Coates, PA
New Zealand singer Lorde has released her first solo single since 2021, marking a highly anticipated comeback ahead of her fourth studio album.
The Green Light singer dropped the highly anticipated single What Was That, alongside a music video at 5am Irish time on Thursday.
The upbeat synth-pop single’s lyrics call back to a more nostalgic time, as it gradually builds in intensity: “I wear smoke like a wedding veil/Make a meal I won’t eat/Step out onto the street, alone in a sea.”
A post shared by Lorde (@lorde)
The track, which harkens back to her 2017 hit album Melodrama, was released alongside a music video of the singer walking through New York City before dancing in Washington Square Park.
“MDMA in the back garden, blow our pupils up/ We kissed for hours straight/ Well baby, what was that?” she sings.
It comes days after she surprised hundreds of fans on Tuesday night local time with a debut of the track during the pop-up event at the New York City park, later featured in the song’s visuals.
She followed up the performance with an announcement, revealing the track would drop a full day earlier than originally planned.
The song marks her first release from a studio album in nearly four years.
Lorde, who has been largely silent since her 2021 album Solar Power, has loaned her vocal talents to a Solar Power companion EP rerecorded in te reo Maori and a Marlon Williams album.
The Auckland native has been building anticipation by releasing audio snippets on TikTok and a reveal of the single’s cover art on Instagram, shot by American photographer Talia Chetrit.
She teased the single in a series of Instagram posts featuring photos from the busy New York set, simply captioned: “out midnight”.
The Royals singer most recently delighted fans with a surprise Coachella appearance alongside British singer Charlie XCX.
During the set, the Brit announced it was “Lorde Summer 2025”, leading fans to speculate the new album will be released in the coming months.
Fans and media were tipped off about Tuesday’s performance via a group text with her fans, who flocked to the park.
But hours later, Lorde posted on her Instagram story saying the event had been shut down by police.
While many fans lingered for hours, the 28-year-old’s close collaborator Dev Hynes, also known as Blood Orange, appeared at the park playing the new single on a portable speaker.
Lorde herself showed up at the venue at 9.30pm and danced to the hit as it played atop a wooden table to a cheering crowd.