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Lorde Shared the Teeniest, Tiniest Snippet of New Music and Her Fans Cannot Deal: ‘Will Be Back in Touch’

The singer has been teasing her fourth LP for the past year and the first listen is... intriguing.

Lorde attends the after show of the Miu Miu Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 5, 2024 in Paris, France.

Lorde attends the after show of the Miu Miu Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 5, 2024 in Paris, France.

Victor Boyko/Getty Images

There are things we know, such as the fact that Lorde is working on her fourth album. The New Zealand singer has been very slowly teasing the follow-up to 2021’s Solar Power for almost a year now, but until Thursday night (July 11) fans had not officially heard even a single snippet of music.

That changed in a major way when the 27-year-old singer hopped on her Instagram Story to share some pics of herself in the studio and bop along to a brief clip of a new song. And when we say brief we mean *VERY* brief, as in, less than two seconds.


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It wasn’t much, but it was something. In clips shared by fans, Lorde — wearing a plaid shirt with her hair in pigtails — smiles and rocks her head side-to-side as she grooves to a lyric-less beat that appears to have a techno-y, dance vibe. The caption to the tease gave hope: “Will be back in touch.”

Her fans were, not surprisingly, freaking out at even just the hint of fresh tracks. Among the comments on re-posts of the snippet were: “2025 will be THE year,” “LITERALLY WILL CHANGE MY LIFE,” “I’M IN LOVE,” “IM NOT OKAY” and the super chill “omgmgmgmgdejmonkfKNHJABFJHKABFDKHLASBFIHASBFKHLABFHKLABFLKIHAFBAJKHLsfDSLJFK ASKJGRFVASDEYHILJFBQAWIDL.”

Last month, Lorde posted a series of cryptic pictures and wrote “use the existing tools wherever possible” alongside a string of images including a copyright symbol, three variations of the letter L, the number four in parentheses and a recycling logo. “If the tools do not exist you are spiritually obligated to create them,” she added along a longer string of confusing images, with more Ls, another 4, a bunch of stars, the number 27, what looked like a Tarot card, the infinity symbol, a shark, a rabbit and an Egyptian figure.

At the time she didn’t offer any further explanation and the accompanying images didn’t shine any light on what they meant, consisting of a snap of her in an all-black outfit staring over a balcony, then spitting off that balcony, holding a pill in her hand with the word “spit” printed on it, along with a shot of a nightstand with a pile of books and an ashtray filled with gold jewelry and a close-up of her at a swimming pool.

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In December, she posted another confusing snap — since deleted — in which she sat in striped pajamas listening to something, clarifying, “listening to myself.” She also teased what appeared to be a few new songs during a headlining gig at the Boardmasters Festival in the U.K. in 2023, with enterprising fans guessing that the tracks were titled “Silver Moon” and “Invisible Ink.”

Check out a fan post of the Lorde tease below.

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.
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Executive of the Week: Justin West of Secret City Records on the Secrets of Independent Music Success​
FYI

Executive of the Week: Justin West of Secret City Records on the Secrets of Independent Music Success​

The man behind one of Canada's most successful indie labels talks about the late-blooming success of French-language streaming record-holder Patrick Watson, why he builds long-term relationships with artists, and why it's important for the indie sector to work together.

Justin West is a leader and advocate in Canada’s independent music scene, but he didn’t plan it out that way. When he started his record label Secret City Records in Montreal in the mid-2000s, it was out of necessity. He had met an artist he loved and wanted to build a career with, and the label was a means to do it. That artist was Patrick Watson, and 20 years later he — and Secret City — are more successful than ever.

West — a multiple time Billboard Canada Power Player – leads one of the biggest indie labels in Canada while also advocating for the sector on multiple boards both locally and internationally. When we speak to him for this Executive of the Week interview, he’s just returned from Banff for the National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture, and is a central figure in discussions around the Online Streaming Act and collective negotiations with online streaming platforms.

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