Music

Lorde Promised “Something” Next Year, And Her Fans Absolutely Lost It

There's even a theory Lorde's hat is a sign of a Taylor Swift collab. It's a reach, but we'll take it.

by Jared Richards  8 October 2020
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Lorde has made one of her ultra-rare appearances on social media to encourage her New Zealand fans to vote in the country’s upcoming election — while hinting at a follow-up to her 2017 album Melodrama. Fans are freaking out.

We’ve known for a while that Lorde — aka Ella Yelich-O’Connor — has been working on her third album.

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The musician updated fans late last year to say it’d been delayed while she mourned the loss of her dog, Pearl, before sending fans an email this May promising that the album is coming, and it’s “fucking good”.

COVID-19 has, unfortunately, slowed things down, but she’s still working over Zoom with producer Jack Antanoff, who she worked with on Melodrama.

And now, we have the smallest thing to hold onto, after Lorde went on Instagram stories to promise “something” would arrive next year — but only if her New Zealand followers went and enrolled to vote in their election, which will be held on 17 October.

“We know we live in a special place,” she wrote. “And adding all of our voices to the conversation, speaking up for communities or organisations that mean something to us — that’s what helps keep it that way.”

She then directed Kiwi fans to Vote.NZ, and cited two referendums also underway: a bill to allow euthanasia for terminally ill people, and one for legalising cannabis.

In the part that has really shaken fans, she concluded with a photo of a leaf, with the promise of music to come on top.

“Do it for our beautiful country and for me,” she wrote. “And next year I’ll give you something in return”.

This, of course, set the somewhat starved Lorde fans on fire.

Many detailed their plans to move to New Zealand to vote, just for Lorde (though their world-leading COVID-19 response is certainly reason enough, too). A lot of people also just misread Lorde’s post and assumed she was talking about the US election.

Before long, ‘Lorde’ was trending on Twitter, prompting many to get excited that the singer had returned with music. Not quite.

“I saw Lorde trending and almost shit my pants, turns out she’s telling people to vote,” wrote YouTuber Sarah Schauer. “Going back into hiding, I can’t do this any longer.”

Then there are the conspiracy theories, with some suggesting that Lorde’s hat in one photo is a subtle tease of a Taylor Swift collaboration. The cap has the letters “T S W L I C” on it, which stans think could mean ‘Taylor Swift with Lorde is coming”. It’s a real reach, but you never know.

Meanwhile, one dedicated stan recently created their own ‘Green Light’ video with a cardboard cut-out of Lorde. It’s truly a thing of beauty.