Lorde has begun teasing her fourth album, taking to social media to hint to fans that she is well underway with new material.
Rumours about the New Zealand singer releasing new music have been circulating for months now, with fans becoming increasingly certain that the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Solar Power’ was on the way.
She first reached global fame with her breakthrough single ‘Royals’ back in 2013, before sharing her debut album ‘Pure Heroine’ later that year. From there, she dropped the anticipated sophomore album ‘Melodrama’ in 2017, before releasing her latest project three years ago.
Now, according to a new post the singer has shared on social media, it seems that ‘L4’ is on the horizon, and the artist is currently in her creative zone.
Sharing an update on Instagram last night (June 4), the vocalist told fans that she is drawing inspiration from anywhere she can to create new music. “If the tools do not exist you are spiritually obliged to create them…” she wrote in the caption, also sharing some cryptic symbols and variations of ‘L4’.
The teaser Lorde shared last night comes after she hinted at new material back in December, and shared another cryptic post online suggesting that she was underway with the ‘Solar Power’ follow-up.
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Sharing an image of herself wearing headphones, she wrote the caption ‘Listening to myself’ – quickly leading to fans getting excited about new material. However, the Kiwi artist soon put a slight dampener on the prospect, saying that any new songs were still a long way off being finished.
“We’re not CLOSE close you guys .. i’m just getting so hype n needed to let u know,” she wrote. “Start ur excitement on a low flame and bring it up to a gentle simmer .. we building stamina for this chapter.”
The singer – real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor – also teased new material throughout summer 2023, both saying fans that she had “so much to tell” fans, and also using her slot at Boardmasters to premiere two unreleased tracks.
The songs – which were sandwiched between hits like ‘Homemade Dynamite’, ‘Buzzcut Season’ and ‘The Louvre’ – were originally billed as ‘Untitled #1’ and ‘Untitled #2’ on the festival’s printed setlist. The first track is suspected to be titled ‘Silver Moon’, while the second second is rumoured by fans to be called ‘Invisible Ink’.
Lorde performed TWO new songs at her Boardmasters show in the UK! The tracks were labeled “Untitled #1” and “Untitled #2” on today’s setlist. 👀
📷: @carrielouisee pic.twitter.com/2SGzPG44Dp
— The Lorde Cult (@TheLordeCult) August 11, 2023
It remains unclear if those are the official titles for the songs, or they’re working titles at the moment. It is also unclear if the songs will appear on the new album.
Later that year, Lorde opened up to fans about how she was apparently “living with heartbreak”. She shared the news in an emotional letter to her fans, in which she said: “I haven’t seen many friends; mostly, I’m alone with my thoughts… I’m not trying to hide from the pain, I understand now that pain isn’t something to hide from, that there’s actually great beauty in moving with it. But sometimes I’m sick of being with myself.”
Writing about her huge return to the stage and new material, NME stated that the singer seems to be at the beginning of “a radically different chapter”.
“‘Solar Power’ was a breath of fresh air that carried the distinct whiff of passion project. It highlighted how powerful Lorde’s voice could be as a sort of musical tranquilliser,” it read, recalling how the run of live shows throughout 2023 showcased a “Night Vision edition” of her ‘Solar Power’ tour. “If ‘Solar Power’ had been a sad-girl party on the beach, this was a rave in a monastery – a baroque jamboree delivered with fight and bite.”