Lorde Reveals Her 17-Year Record Deal Has Come to an End, Says She’s Ready for a ‘Clean Slate’
The change has left the singer with "a feeling of openness and possibility," she says.
Lorde is feeling ready for change after her contract with Universal Music Group expired last year, the pop star announced Wednesday (March 18).
In a voice note sent to fans ahead of her run of Ultrasound festival shows, Lorde revealed that after about 17 years, she’s no longer with her first label home.
“At the end of last year, my label deal — my record contract with Universal — came to an end,” she shared. “I have been in that contract for a very, very long time, in some form … since I was 12 years old, when I signed my first development deal with Universal.”
“I adore them there,” she continued, emphasizing her love for the “incredible people” that facilitated the release of her first four albums, starting with 2013’s Pure Heroine. “I’ve had an amazing experience with them. But the truth is that a 12-year-old girl pre-sold her creative output before she knew what it would be like, and before she knew what she was signing away.”
Now 29, Lorde added that she’s “sure [she’ll] have a deal again” in the future, and it could very well be with Universal — but for now, she “needed to take a second to have nothing being bought or sold that comes from [her].”
“When I see an opportunity for a clean slate, I try to take it,” the Grammy winner concluded. “And it does feel different … I feel a feeling of openness and possibility, and I’m inspired. It just feels exciting to have removed the container or something for a second.”
Billboard has reached out to Lorde’s rep and Universal for comment.
Other ways the singer is embracing new beginnings are by working toward her driver’s license –“I’m studying for my permit … I must be a licensed driver before I turn 30,” she said with a laugh in the voice — and renting her first-ever office space. “I signed a lease on an office — study, studio, workspace, I don’t know what to call it,” she revealed. “I don’t even really know what I’m going to do with yet … I’ve run all of this from my bed forever, and I am excited to see what having a bit more of a formalized space for all my crap will look like.”
Lorde has certainly had a successful run while signed to Universal. In 2013, she struck fame with the success of first single “Royals,” which spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. After her debut album, she’d go on to release Melodrama in 2017, Solar Power in 2021 and, most recently, Virgin in 2025. All of her LPs have charted in the top five of the Billboard 200.
As she explores life as an unsigned artist, the musician is gearing up to headline a number of festivals, including BottleRock Napa Valley in California and the Governor’s Ball in New York City. One day prior to her new voice note, it was announced that she’ll also lead the Lollapalooza 2026 bill alongside Charli xcx, JENNIE, Tate McRae, Olivia Dean and more.
