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Lorde Unleashes New Era With Hypnotic Synth-Pop Stunner ‘What Was That'

Lorde Unleashes New Era With Hypnotic Synth-Pop Stunner ‘What Was That'

Yahoo07-05-2025

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways
Lorde at Paris Fashion Week in 2024 - Credit: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 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.
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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.'
After the ordeal, Lorde shared a teaser video where a close-up shot finds the singer breathless, with New York 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.
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.'
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See John Wick spinoff 'Ballerina' in theaters, rent 'Sinners,' stream 'Presence' on Hulu, plus more movies to watch this weekend
See John Wick spinoff 'Ballerina' in theaters, rent 'Sinners,' stream 'Presence' on Hulu, plus more movies to watch this weekend

Yahoo

time32 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

See John Wick spinoff 'Ballerina' in theaters, rent 'Sinners,' stream 'Presence' on Hulu, plus more movies to watch this weekend

We independently evaluate the products we review. When you buy via links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read more about how we vet products and deals. Hello, Yahoo Entertainment readers! I'm Brett Arnold, a longtime writer and editor at Yahoo and film critic for my podcast, Roger (Ebert) & Me, and welcome to Trust Me, I Watch Everything. I'm here to recommend what you should see in movie theaters, rent from the comfort of your couch or queue up from a streaming service you may already subscribe to. I watch it all so you don't have to. This week, Ballerina, the long-awaited John Wick spin-off starring Ana De Armas, hits theaters. If you're looking for a movie to keep you up at night, horror-thriller Dangerous Animals is a strong candidate, but don't miss out on the smash hit Sinners either. Also available is an animated take on the Predator franchise and a nostalgic documentary in Becoming Led Zeppelin. 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‘Tyler Perry's Straw' Review: The Accidental Bank Robber
‘Tyler Perry's Straw' Review: The Accidental Bank Robber

New York Times

time4 hours ago

  • New York Times

‘Tyler Perry's Straw' Review: The Accidental Bank Robber

In 'Tyler Perry's Straw,' Janiyah (Taraji P. Henson), a single mom in Atlanta, is having a very, very, very bad day. Her morning was already ragged when the writer-director piles onto her woes a demeaning landlord, a bullying boss, a distant school administrator, a line of disgruntled grocery customers and a road-raging, off-duty police officer. Did we mention that Janiyah winds up in the wrong office at the wrong time in the wrong state of mind? As detectives arrive to a bloody crime scene at the grocery store where she clerks, Janiyah is across the parking lot at her bank, trying to cash her paycheck. Only she doesn't have identification, and the teller is being a stickler. Soon, Janiyah is waving a gun, something is flashing red in her daughter's see-through backpack and she has made hostages of the bank employees and a handful of aging customers. Sherri Shepherd portrays Nicole, the branch manager who tries to diffuse the situation, having amped it by telling the police that Janiyah has a bomb. Teyana Taylor ('A Thousand and One') brings fierce focus to a deteriorating situation as Detective Kay Raymond. The security footage at the grocery store didn't lie, but Detective Raymond intuits something more has sent Janiyah to the desperate standoff. She steps in as a negotiator. Perry, an unapologetic purveyor of melodrama, mercilessly teases the tension. Will Janiyah hurt the hostages? Will the authorities make a sad situation worse? The ending is perhaps too twisting for its own good. But Henson — so deeply committed to her character's emotional cratering — still makes us care. StrawNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

Lorde Says This NSFW ‘Virgin' Song ‘Destroys' Her: ‘I Can't Even Really Listen to It'
Lorde Says This NSFW ‘Virgin' Song ‘Destroys' Her: ‘I Can't Even Really Listen to It'

Yahoo

time11 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Lorde Says This NSFW ‘Virgin' Song ‘Destroys' Her: ‘I Can't Even Really Listen to It'

Lorde revealed in a new interview that she has multiple favorite songs from her upcoming album, Virgin. But on the other side of the coin, there's one that she can't even listen to because of how raw it is — and it's about a pretty NSFW topic. Speaking to Jake Shane on an episode of his Therapuss podcast posted Wednesday (June 4), the New Zealand native shared that track seven — which is named after a popular pregnancy test brand — is particularly emotional for her. 'There's a song that I love so much called 'Clearblue' that is about unprotected sex,' she began, laughing. More from Billboard Everything We Know About Lorde's 'Virgin' So Far Queens of the Stone Age Couldn't 'Over-Rehearse' for Paris Catacombs Concert Film: 'You Go Down There & All the Plans Are Off' Billboard & Global Venture Partners Launch Billboard Africa 'And just the experience of taking a pregnancy test, and like, this flood of emotions that goes through your body,' she continued, noting that the track is one of several 'slammers' on the album. 'Whatever you want to say — it's such a moment.' 'That whole song just destroys me,' Lorde added. 'I can't even really listen to it.' According to the pop star, 'Clearblue' is one of several songs on Virgin that features sexual content, despite the album's contradicting name. She explained to Shane of the title, 'It speaks to a sort of purity, but the album is quite sexual, so it wasn't sexual purity … virgin steel, virgin hair, all of these things that denote purity, but I'm also kind of always trying to take me to my teen self.' Arriving June 27, Virgin will mark Lorde's first album in four years. In the weeks leading up to its release, she's been open about how the confluence of stopping birth control, recovering from disordered eating habits and embracing her gender fluidity have shaped the project's direction. The album's subject matter and percussive, electric sound are expected to mark a distinct shift from the Grammy winner's last project, Solar Power, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. That LP found Lorde singing about her gravitation toward a more peaceful, unplugged lifestyle after years of living the pop-star life following the successes of 2013 debut album Pure Heroine and 2017 follow-up Melodrama. But on Therapuss, she revealed that the concept of Solar Power doesn't really resonate with who she is today. 'I love Solar Power so much, and I truly needed to make it,' she told Shane. 'I wouldn't be here with another album if I hadn't made Solar Power, but I think it showed me that you sort of just have no choice but to be what you're supposed to be. Me sort of disappearing and being all wafty and on the beach, I was just like, 'Actually, I don't think this is me.' I just am this person that's meant to make bangers that f–k us all up … I love to vibe out. That is me to my core.' Watch Lorde's full Therapuss interview above. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart

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