Lorde Blesses Fans With New Single ‘What Was That’

At midnight on Thursday, Lorde kicked off “Lorde Summer” with the release of her highly anticipated new single “What Was That.”

Lorde first teased the new single earlier this month, creating a new TikTok account with a song snippet. The video, now at almost four million likes, featured the “Royals” singer walking in Washington Square Park, New York, to her new song. She sang, “Since I was seventeen / I gave you everything. / Now we wake from a dream. / Well, baby, what was that? / What was that?”

Since the release of the TikTok snippet, fans have been excited to hear new original music from Lorde since her Solar Power era in 2021.

@brandslam We weren’t joking when we said it’s Lorde Summer #lorde #nyc #lordesummer #brat @Lorde ♬ original sound – maxwell

This week, she posted a photo of Washington Square Park on her Instagram Story, writing, “Tonight 7 pm — xx.” Many young fans flocked to the park where she had recorded her TikTok to see her. Lorde fans waited hours for the Pure Heroine artist to arrive.

One fan brought a speaker, and the group formed their own impromptu concert, scream-singing in unison to songs like “Ribs,” “Green Light,” “Supercut,” and her collaboration with Charli xcx of “Girl, so confusing.” Before the anticipated hour arrived, the New York Police Department ordered the crowd to disperse, stating Lorde did not obtain park or sound permits.

Although some fans left earlier, Lorde eventually arrived two hours later to debut the new single “What Was That” to an overjoyed crowd.

@lorde.br We’re still in disbelief about last night’s events. @Lorde #lorde #lordetok #lordemusic #newyorkcity #washingtonsquarepark #wsp #wwt #whatwasthat ♬ som original – Lorde Brasil

The next day, she sent a message to her fan group chat about the night prior, stating, “I saw this thing that was like, ‘Does Lorde not know she’s famous?’ I feel like I figured it out last night. That is everything that I want my world to feel like…it just really gave me this feeling of everything is where it needs to be.”

In the music video, she reminisces about her past in the concrete jungle of New York, singing, “Yeah, I’m missing you / And all the things we used to do.”

Crawling out of a sewer, trying to let go of the memories, she continues, “When I’m in the blue light, down at Baby’s All Right / I face reality / I tried (I tried) to let (To let) / Whatever has to pass through me, pass through / But this is staying a while, I know / It might not let me go.”

Escaping the sewer, she dances surrounded by the crowd from the previous night, singing, “Indio haze, we’re in a sandstorm, and it knocks me out / I didn’t know then, but you’d never be enough for me / Since l was seventeen, I gave you everything / Now, we wake from a dream / Well, baby, what was that?”

On the new single, Lorde faces the pull and tug of embracing the new and drowning in the memories, using a nostalgic sound similar to her earlier albums, Melodrama and Pure Heroine.

You can watch Lorde’s music video for her new single “What Was That” below.