Prep your teenage angst playlists: Lorde is officially gearing up to release new music. It's been nearly four years since the elusive singer released her last album, Solar Power, but now she's confirmed there's a fresh sound in the works, and it's beginning with a new single: 'What Was That'.
Over on TikTok, Lorde last week posted her first video: a 15-second clip of the singer walking, set to the tune of a brand new song. And adding fuel to the rumour mill flame, she just performed Girl, So Confusing with Charli XCX at Coachella, where Charli belted out "Lorde Summer 2025".
A few days later, the singer took to WhatsApp overnight to deliver a voice memo to fans that cryptically confirmed that "everything is about to change". The next day? It did. Lorde took to Instagram to confirm that the single was en route, simply writing that it's "out soon." So, will a fourth album follow suit? Below, everything we know about Lorde's new music.
What can we expect from the new single?
Aside from the small snippet we heard on TikTok, there's little out there about the track itself. We do know it's called What Was That, and that it's a return to the angsty sound of Lorde's earliest music.
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What did the voice memo say?
After gathering dedicated fans in a WhatsApp text thread, the singer sent a candid voice memo explaining how she was feeling and what was coming next.
@lordeandthepopgirlsfull voicemail from Lorde!!♬ original sound - lorde
She stars with a candid greeting – "Oh my god HI. I'm SO glad I have your number now. I was really just like… like we have to be able to talk like this." – before getting into the juicy stuff.
She gets into her recent performance with Charli XCX at Coachella (where Charli all but confirmed a "Lorde Summer 2025"): "Okay I went to Coachella this weekend – very fun... I was walking out over to the stage at dusk thinking about all the Coachellas that I've been at, y'know, across like 12 years and just thinking about how it's this thing that can really make you like… lose yourself...".
And she ends the note in her typical, cryptic fashion: "Um anyway.. I just wanted to say hi because everything is about to change and these are really the last moments where it's just us… which is crazy! But so right, I'm so ready. I didn't know if I'd ever be able to say that but I am. I'm so thankful for your patience. I felt your love. I felt you right there and yeah… this is gonna be crazy! You have no idea… okay, I love you so much. I'll talk to you soon."
What is Lorde's new music about?
Here's where we really get excited. While we only have the clip of the unnamed song to go off, it's safe to say the new music has a distinctly angsty sound to it. The lyrics to the song are as follows: "Since I was 17 / I gave you everything / now we wake from a dream / well baby, what was that." It's a fairly distinct departure from the softer sound of Lorde's last album, Solar Power, and a return to the introspective, emotionally-charged musings of her second album, Melodrama.
Over on TikTok, fans have been quick to express their support for the sound, with comments including, "This is about to change the trajectory of my life" and, "She always comes back when I am having the most epic and sad years of my life."
@lorde♬ original sound - Lorde
So, is an album en route?
Without confirmation from the singer herself, we can only guess that there's more music where the clip came from – especially with Charli XCX's recent comment on stage at Coachella. If "Lorde Summer 2025" is anything to go by, we should have at least a few songs, if not an album, from Lorde before June/July this year.
A new album would mark her fourth studio album ever, and would follow the four-year release pattern the singer has stuck to in the past. She released her debut album, Pure Heroine, in 2013, followed by her sophomore album, Melodrama, in 2017 and her third album, Solar Power, in 2021.
And although it's still firmly in rumour territory, we can also speculate (and hope) that Lorde once again worked with Jack Antonoff on her new sound. The producer co-wrote and produced both Melodrama and Solar Power with Lorde writing via a newsletter about the latter, "Jack came over to work in the studio in Auckland, and I went to LA. It flowed. A thing started to take shape. And then, of course, the world shut down.” We'll be watching (and listening) closely for more updates.
