“What Was That?” It’s Lorde’s Epic Comeback!

Pop music thrives on spectacle—but every so often, an artist reminds us that mystery still has power. In a landscape of overexposure, Lorde remains refreshingly elusive. She doesn’t flood the feed. She doesn’t follow trends. And when she does return, it’s with intention. Lorde is my number one favorite pop star—not just because of her music, which blends unique production and poetic lyricism, but because of the way she carries herself. There’s an authenticity to her presence that feels rare in the pop world. Every move feels deliberate, rooted in something deeper than just promotion.

As a fan who’s followed her for years, I’ve come to cherish that. For those of us who’ve been hanging on since Melodrama, the past few weeks have felt like a collective awakening: the signs were small at first, but the momentum has built into something undeniable. We’re watching the start of her fourth album era unfold in real time—and it’s already iconic.

Lorde’s official return might have started with a TikTok, but her re-entry into the pop cultural conversation really began with one iconic collaboration: the “girl, so confusing” remix with Charli XCX. The surprise pairing on Charli’s “brat” remix album was a huge moment—not just because it was unexpected, but because it reminded us of Lorde’s singular voice and perspective in a deeply introspective and meta-pop moment. She cemented her presence even further by joining Charli on stage during Coachella Weekend One (April 12), performing the song live and sending fans into a frenzy. 

Just days earlier, on April 9, Lorde posted a TikTok—her first!—showing her strolling through Washington Square Park with a dreamy, unreleased snippet of what we’d soon know as What Was That? It was casual, lo-fi, and instantly captivating. Her dark hair, her quiet presence, the song’s glimmering production—it was enough to crack open the door to a new chapter. Then on April 12, she launched a texting service with the message “Hi you it’s EYO.” Lorde doesn’t give her fans an official name, but during the Solar Power era, she lovingly referred to them as “sensitive cuties who worship the sun.” As someone who very much identifies with that, I’ve been following every move she’s made this past month—the TikToks, the voice memos, the cryptic texts, all of it.

That same day, she sent her first voice memo. Loose and unfiltered, it felt more like a voicemail from a friend than a pop star. “Oh my god HI. I’m SO glad I have your number now,” she began. She explained why she wanted to communicate this way: “I’m in the zone of not wanting to think too hard about how to communicate… like what if it’s just about saying it and maybe getting it wrong and that being okay, you know?” Reflecting on her time at Coachella, she described the weekend’s energy as “ashy” but grounding. “I felt so real and so SOLID… I can just feel all that I have kinda shed to be able to be in this, the way I am right now.” Then came the vulnerable send-off: “Everything is about to change and these are really the last moments where it’s just us… I’m so ready.”

On April 16, the official teaser dropped: a photo of Lorde—wet-faced, red-shirted, dark-haired—accompanied by the caption, “my new song What Was That. Out soon.” Shot by Talia Chetrit, the image felt stark and honest, a visual representation of the rawness we were about to receive. Then came another voice memo, sent on April 23, this time with a sharper sense of purpose. “I’ve never felt more intentional with every single piece of what I’m doing,” she said. “There’s such a deep ethos behind all of it and it all braids together at the end.” She called the track “the music of my rebirth” and one of her favorite songs she’s ever written or produced, teasing a “sick” video and signing off with: “I’m going to toast to ‘What Was That’ on my roof – lots of love.”

And then came April 17. At 4pm, subscribers received a new text: “Meet me in the park. Tonight 7pm – xx.” I knew instantly she meant Washington Square Park. By 6:15pm, I was there—along with hundreds of others. The fountain was surrounded, the atmosphere buzzing. There was no stage, no equipment, no clear plan. At 6:45, she posted an Instagram story: the cops had shut it down. “I’m so sorry,” she wrote. Some fans left. Others, like me, stayed a little longer, hoping she’d find a way. At one point there was a false alarm—screams, movement—but it was nothing. I had to leave around 7:15 for another concert.

Of course, she did show up. Around 9:30pm, Lorde returned to the park. Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange) had reportedly walked through earlier, rolling a speaker and playing the track. Fans who had stayed behind had been dancing to old Lorde songs in the dark. And then she appeared, “performing” What Was That? to a crowd of dedicated fans who had waited hours. Lip-syncing, dancing with her signature looseness—it was chaotic, intimate, unforgettable.

Since then, I’ve been glued to my phone, absorbing every video, post, and breakdown. PopCamSam described the song as sounding like “Supercut run through a paper shredder”—and honestly, it’s spot-on. It feels like a return to the emotional textures of Pure Heroine and Melodrama, but filtered through something scrappier and bolder. She’s working with Jim-E Stack, known for his work with Bon Iver, and the collaboration shows.

I tried so hard to stay up until midnight for the official release, but I just couldn’t make it. Still, the first thing I did the next morning was press play. What Was That? was co-produced by Dan Nigro, the mastermind behind Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan’s best work. You can hear his touch in the song’s structure—tight, cinematic, bursting with specificity. The lyrics are classic Lorde: “MDMA in the back garden, blow our pupils up” and “this is the best cigarette of my life” are already burned into my brain.

The video feels incredibly real and authentic—like it was shot on an iPhone. It shows her walking through lower Manhattan, biking along the West Side, living in the city that’s clearly fed into the texture of this new era. It ends, of course, in Washington Square Park. That night. She dances in the middle of the crowd, footage cut straight from the moment we all witnessed—or almost witnessed—in real life. She really did shut the park down for her art, and I’m kicking myself that I couldn’t stick around to be a part of the magic. I’ve never loved her more.

The song is everything. It’s fun, it’s alive, it’s Lorde. She clearly loves it. And I can’t wait for what’s next. Charli was right—when she projected “Lorde Summer 2025” during her Coachella Weekend 2 set, it wasn’t just a tease. It was a declaration. The summer of Lorde is officially underway.

“What Was That?” is out now.