Lorde is back at last… and it’s not just for show!
Four years of silence, a viral remix, a cry from the heart. Lorde didn’t just sign her return to Coachella 2025, she chose to make it unforgettable.
Coachella, scene of reconciliation and resurrection
On April 12, 2025, on stage in the Californian desert, Lorde reappeared, almost incognito, during the set of hyper-pop star Charli XCX. Together, they perform Girl, so confusing, an emblematic track from the album Brat. There’s nothing insignificant about this duet. The two artists, long compared and even opposed, finally unite on stage and in a remix that feels like a shared confession.
This surprise performance is just the beginning of what the pop world has been waiting for: Lorde’s first single since 2021, What Was That (abbreviated WWT).
“What Was That”: the raw confession of an artist finally free
The release of WWT didn’t come out of the blue. An extract distilled on TikTok was enough to create anticipation. The track, both minimalist and visceral, follows in the footsteps of Lorde’s previous chapters: Pure Heroine (2013), Melodrama (2017), then Solar Power (2021). But this time, there’s no sun filter. It’s emotional nakedness that guides this return.
On the single’s cover, an unadorned, almost raw portrait accompanies the artist’s declaration: “The themes are always the same”. She evokes: “the return to innocence, the mysteries of blood, the thirst for transcendence.” A mystical, poetic program, in the image of an artist who has been able to withdraw in order to better redefine herself.
A new maturity, without losing its essence
With What Was That, Lorde rediscovers her voice. That of the flayed teenager of Royals, but also that of the 28-year-old woman, aware of her demons, strong in her silences. “Since I was seventeen, I gave you everything”, she sings. A promise kept.
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