Lorde posted a snippet of her new song “What Was That” on April 9 via a new TikTok account. In the video, she was seen speed walking through Washington Square Park.
On April 22, Lorde sent an email and text blast to her fans, which stated “Meet me in the park. Tonight 7 p.m.” A massive crowd appeared at Washington Square Park, full of people blasting Lorde songs until the NYPD cleared the crowd.
Lorde posted on her story, “Omg @thepark the cops are shutting us down,” she wrote. “I am truly amazed by how many of you showed up but they’re telling me you gotta disperse… I’m so sorry.” However, fans remained at the park and Lorde still showed up at 9:30 p.m. to perform “What Was That.”
“What Was That” officially released on April 24. The song is three and a half minutes long with a tone and rhythm reminiscent of the music in her second album “Melodrama.” The music video featured Lorde walking and biking across New York City, ending with footage of her performance at Washington Square Park.
Lyrics such as “Since I was seventeen, I gave you everything / Now we wake from a dream” left fans speculating on whom Lorde was referring to or whether she was referring to her newfound fame in her teen years and her growth since.
After the release, Lorde announced her fourth album “Virgin,” which she co-produced with Jim-E Stack. The cover resembled a blue X-ray scan of Lorde’s lower half of her body, revealing her belt buckle, pants zipper and IUD. The album is scheduled to be released on June 27 with 11 tracks.
The singer said in an all-caps email: “THE COLOUR OF THE ALBUM IS CLEAR. LIKE BATHWATER, WINDOWS, ICE, SPIT. FULL TRANSPARENCY… I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A DOCUMENT THAT REFLECTED MY FEMININITY: RAW, PRIMAL, INNOCENT, ELEGANT, OPENHEARTED, SPIRITUAL, MASC.”
She posted on her Instagram story about the underlying meaning of the title.
“The word ‘virgin,’ some say, was derived from a Greek word that meant ‘not attached to a man,’ a woman who was ‘one-in-herself.’ Goddesses like Ishtar (Assyrian-Babylonian), Diana (Roman), Astarte (Greek) and Isis (Egyptian) were called ‘virgins’ not because they were inexperienced but because they were strong and independent,” Kristine Shields wrote in a screenshot of her article.
The announcement of the new album came four years after the release of her third album “Solar Power” in 2021, which was a different tone than her first two albums “Pure Heroine” and “Melodrama.”
In 2024, Lorde released her cover of “Take Me to the River” by Talking Heads and a collaboration with Charli XCX on the song “Girl So Confusing.”
“It’s funny to be 12 years into your career and for people to have an understanding of your tropes and what you do,” Lorde said to BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders.
Lorde also said that her collaboration with Charli XCX “forced me to further define what I was doing because Charli had so masterfully defined everything about Brat.”
With the electronic beat and minimalist bassline in “What Was That,” fans are anticipating a return to Lorde’s classic synth-pop style.
