The Lorde is Risen

“Where we’re going together is so bright. I’ve never felt more intentional with every single piece of what I’m doing,” are some of the words Lorde shared with fans via voice memo on Wednesday night, ahead of the release of her comeback single “What Was That.” 

Nearly four years since the release of Solar Power, which traded the singer-songwriter’s penchant for blazing nighttime angst for sun-drenched resolve, razor-edged synth and industrial-sounding screech usher in the start of this new era. 

While the release of the lead single and title track for Solar Power was a high-pressure “comeback,” for it came after the technicolor panache of Melodrama, “What Was That” is in some ways a higher stakes release given the divisive nature of Solar Power’s stripped back sound that left some longing for more. 

Lorde often functions best when recirculating fluorescent memories and weaving them together with palpable fervor. “What Was That” captures a flash of the fiery intensity that is often found in her best work. The opening chord progressions are reminiscent of her own “Supercut,” and the warbling screech on the song’s predominantly non-singing chorus evokes memories of the industrial crash of “Hard Feelings/Loveless.” The song gratifies the wishes of many hoping for a return to form, but the song (thankfully) doesn’t just reheat her own leftovers from 2017.

Lorde adopts a stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach that lands somewhere in between Charli xcx’s text-like phrasing on Brat and the lengthy sonnets of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poet’s Department. Her lyricism is evocative per usual (“MDMA in the back garden, blow our pupils up/We kissed for hours straight, well, baby, what was that?”) and only suffers when it becomes too obvious and plainspoken (“I remember sayin' then, "This is the best cigarette of my life").  

Produced by Jim E Stack (Dominic Fike, Caroline Polachek) and Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan), the song chirps and throbs with an electronic edge that establishes it as a sort of extension of her previous work, but with footing on new ground. Although the track ends before things can really get off the ground sonically, one can’t help but revel in the fact that Lorde has risen again.   

Photo by @noahshaub