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What does Lorde have in store for her triumphant return to music?
Following a surprise set at the Coachella music festival alongside Charli XCX, Lorde seems to be teasing a major comeback in the recording industry. After the radiant Solar Power, is the 28-year-old New Zealand singer about to unveil a new album?
by Jordan Bako.
A wild Coachella performance with Charli XCX
After British singer Charli XCX‘s inescapable Brat Summer, are we on the brink of a season ruled by New Zealand’s Lorde? During her Coachella set on April 12, 2025, the Brat singer brought Lorde on stage—the artist she had collaborated with for a standout remix last year. The performance featured an array of guests and friends, from Troye Sivan to Billie Eilish, with models and online personalities Alex Consani and Gabbriette dancing front-row. Yet among this vibrant lineup, it was Lorde’s surprise appearance that stole the show.
Together, Charli XCX and Lorde delivered a supercharged rendition of their duet Girl, so confusing, offering fans a spectacular performance. The moment had all the makings of a ceremonial handoff: Charli closed out the song with a heavily auto-tuned proclamation—“Make some noise, people! Lorde Summer 2025!” A shoutout that served as the perfect cue to reflect on Lorde’s long-anticipated return.
A new Lorde album after four years away?
We last heard from Lorde in 2021 with the radiant Solar Power, a sonically cohesive record paired with a boldly minimalist cover. After the stormy brilliance of Pure Heroine (2014) and Melodrama (2017), her third album felt like a healing journey for Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor. Since then, she’s kept a low profile, both onstage and online, staying in touch with fans primarily through a newsletter.
In a September 2023 email to her fanbase, Lorde shared: “It might sound funny or easy to forget, but I make records because I need to. Songs are spells, spells to let go of something, spells to open a door. Every time I put something into words the way I see it, when I wrap it in the right melody, a knot inside me untangles. But it hurts too, facing those knots. I’ve made enough albums to know that the feeling of skin peeling away is part of the process.”
What Was That: Lorde’s electro-pop comeback single
While Lorde remained tight-lipped about a new project, that silence seems to have lifted. The 28-year-old recently wiped her Instagram and website clean. Then on April 9, she shared a TikTok video featuring a cryptic lyric snippet: “Since I was seventeen, I gave you everything / Now we’re waking from a dream / Well, baby, what was that? / What was that?”
The clip immediately went viral, amassing over 30 million views and 3 million likes. The track—titled What Was That—was teased further during a fan meet-up at Washington Square Park on April 23. Just a day later, Lorde officially dropped the full single. Produced in collaboration with Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan) and Jim-E Stack (Caroline Polachek, Bon Iver), What Was That channels the heartache of a breakup Lorde reportedly experienced in 2023. It marks a distinct shift into electro-pop territory.
A Lorde summer 2025… featuring Blood Orange?
With a minimalist music video to match, the track sets the tone for what Lorde describes in a voice message sent to fans on April 24 as “the music of [her] rebirth.”
All signs point to a 2025 album release, though no official date has been confirmed yet. According to Pitchfork, Blood Orange may be one of the producers behind the scenes. Having danced through Charli XCX’s Girl, so confusing, could Lorde now be ready to intoxicate us with electronic soundscapes?
What Was That (2025) by Lorde is out now. Her forthcoming album is still awaiting an official release date.
