Get ready, Lorde season is here. The singer-songwriter has returned with “What Was That,” a hypnotic, synth-pop number that harkens back to her Melodrama era. On the track, Lorde is haunted by distant, yet vivid memories. “MDMA in the back garden, blow our pupils up/ We kissed for hours straight/ Well baby, what was that?” Lorde sings, making every consonant sound like a confession.
Along with the new song, the singer shared a flashy visual where she walks alone throughout New York City before finally dancing in the center of Washington Square Park, wearing jeans and a bikini top under a white shirt as fans record her with their phones. The video was shot in the city on Tuesday following a momentous meet-up in the park that was shut down by the NYPD. Earlier in the day, chaos ensued when Lorde asked her fans to “meet [her] at the park.” Despite the cryptic message, many fans figured out where to find the singer and showed up in droves, forcing Lorde to initially cancel her appearance. Lorde finally made it to the park later on in the night, where she danced along to “What Was That” as it played in front of a crowd of onlookers.
Hours before releasing the track, Lorde shared a voice note with fans where she reacted to the the meet-up. “Holy fuck, that was insane,” the singer started, “I cannot believe you shut down the fucking park.” She continued, “I saw this thing that was like ‘does Lorde not know she’s famous?’ I feel like I figured it out last night.”
“What Was That” was originally slated for release April 25. But after the ordeal, Lorde moved up the single release by a day when she shared a teaser video where a close-up shot finds the singer breathless, with New York City behind her. Following the pop-up event, fans online began splicing together audio from videos posted online and creating a make-shift version of the track.
It’s been nearly four years since Lorde released her third studio album, Solar Power. The singer began teasing her return earlier this month when she wiped her website and social media profiles clean. Shortly after, she shared a 15-second clip of “What Was That” in her first-ever TikTok video.
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Last week, Lorde detailed her new era in her first voice note to fans. The singer didn’t detail much about a potential forthcoming album, but her excitement was palpable in the message. “This is gonna be crazy,” she said, “You have no idea.”
Lorde shared similar sentiments in her new voice note before the release of “What Was That.” “I’ve never felt more intentional with every single piece of what I’m doing,” she said, adding, “There’s such a deep ethos behind all of it, and it all braids together in the end.” The singer also called the single “one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” before explaining its importance: “I really think this song is the music of my rebirth.”
