Lorde's 'What Was That' ushers in vulnerability

Express Tribune

26-04-2025

After nearly four years of silence since Solar Power, Lorde has re-emerged with a shimmering new single, What Was That; a track that plays like a heartbroken recollection wrapped in synth-pop elegance.
Released on Thursday, the song marks the first taste of her forthcoming album expected later this summer, and it carries the weight of personal upheaval and sonic rebirth. Co-written with Jim-E Stack and co-produced by Stack and Dan Nigro (known for his work with Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan), the single offers a tight, emotionally charged glimpse into Lorde's inner world, one shaped by a breakup, hormonal shifts, and creative resurgence.
Musically, What Was That returns to the layered, electronic textures reminiscent of her Melodrama era, though it feels more mature and less theatrical. The opening synths hum like distant city lights, before Lorde's voice slices in, cool and bruised. The lyrics detail a collapsing relationship in sharp snapshots: "MDMA in the back garden," "the best cigarette of my life," and waking from a dream only to ask, "Well, baby, what was that?" Her words flicker between romance and disillusionment.
The song builds like a breath held too long. The chorus explodes with layered harmonies and bass-thick synths, echoing her emotional unrest. Dan Nigro's production choices shine, subtle but tactile, with a sense of space that lets Lorde's confessions land hard.
Cue Lorde summer
The music video adds another layer of intimacy. Directed by Lorde herself and shot across New York City, the visuals are disarmingly simple: Lorde walking, biking, glancing up at trees and over her shoulder like she's remembering something that never fully made sense. The most electrifying moment arrives when the video shifts to Washington Square Park. After announcing a pop-up appearance via fan text, "Meet me in the park tonight, 7PM," a massive crowd gathers. The police shuts it down due to safety concerns, but Lorde returns hours later to play the song from a small speaker, dancing among her fans as if nothing had been scripted. That footage, raw and grayscale, makes it into the video and feels like a metaphor for the song itself.
The fan reactions online have been effusive, emotional, and, in true Lorde fashion, poetically unhinged. YouTube commenters quickly lit up the video's comment section with praise, declaring the track a return to form. "And when the world needed her most, she returned," wrote one fan. Another said, "She really captures the feeling of ending your shift and walking back home through the streets and urban cities."
Multiple commenters zeroed in on the lyrics: "Since I was seventeen, I gave you everything," echoing Lorde's familiar themes of growing pains and emotional sacrifice. Others praised the understated but evocative visuals, with one fan writing, "The simplicity of her just walking around NYC hits harder than a million-dollar set."
In fan discourse across social media, there's also mounting excitement around what this single might signal for Lorde's next full-length project. While an official album title or tracklist hasn't dropped yet, speculation is strong that the album will land by mid to late summer 2025. Collaborations with Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) are rumoured, and if What Was That is any indicator, the album will blend electronic textures with diary-level honesty.
The cultural tone also seems to be shifting. With Charli xcx having announced at Coachella that "brat summer is over," she pointed directly to her onstage collaborator, Lorde, as the next torchbearer. It's an unofficial but poetic handoff: brat summer giving way to something more introspective, more emotionally feral. Maybe we're headed for "Lorde summer," filled with moody synths and existential walks through city streets.