The Return of Lorde and Music I'm Loving in the Meantime

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Apr 11, 2025

Because you are A Person With Taste In The World Today, you know that 2025 is due for a new Lorde album. If you did not know that, now you do, and therefore you are certainly A Person With Taste In The World Today. Check out this handy graphic I made for us:

We are likely already living within four months of having heard Lorde’s fourth LP. Reddit thinks July.

Critically, Lorde posted this TikTok two days ago:

@lorde @lorde ♬ WWT - Lorde

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I hate how TikToks embed in Substack, but I did it for Lorde. I did it for us.

Washington Square Park, Jim-E Stack production. She’s wiped her socials clean, and today she sent an email promising a “longer note here soon”. For those attuned to the mercurial shifts in Lorde’s internet presence, you know what this means: we are about to bear witness to a full-scale album release—Lorde is about to introduce us to her newest world.

Fifteen seconds of music and a phone number aren’t enough for me to start breaking down album expectations, but I do think it’s interesting that Lorde’s first snippet was dropped in a TikTok.

Solar Power, her 2021 release, was distinctly woo-woo luddite. She sent fans irregular email updates with photos of garden-grown flowers to announce an intentionally small-venue tour. She talked a lot about weed and did interviews about cleansing herself of social media. I loved Solar Power, but many Lorde fans did not, and the album is critically regarded as a bit of a flop—thematically lacking self-awareness and failing to impress musically after the massive success of Melodrama.

So…LP 4…first teaser…clunky wallet chain on baggy jeans…aggressively walk-running in New York City à la the “Green Light” music video…heavy synths and layered vocals…singing about being seventeen…and she drops it all in a TikTok.

All I can say about the sound of “WWT” is that I’m excited for more. What I will say about the delivery of the snippet, though, is that it signals both the vibe and marketing of this upcoming album. Spotify has one of the top comments: “LORDE SUMMER IS UPON US”. On her TikTok. She’s doing the trendy-maintstream-artist thing and giving us a phone number to sign up for exclusive updates about the album. An artist whose lead single four years ago bragged about “throwing my cellular device in the water”. I’m just saying. LP 4? I expect it to be a very commercial cycle, another stadium-tour situation. Think Brat Summer, but with the larger pre-existing fan base that Lorde has maintained for a decade. It will be huge. As long as the music’s not bad.

Let me know if you want to buy tickets with me when they go on sale. I’m so excited I could cry.

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And now for some wonderful music that already publicly exists!

Three extraordinary albums from 2025 so far:

SAYA by Saya Gray

if you clicked on this post because you just really love Lorde and you’ve stayed with me this long, this is the album that I think has the strongest IF YOU LIKE X, THEN YOU WILL LIKE Y quality with Lorde. go forth and be influenced.
this album is so, so good. my favorite track is the first one, “..THUS IS WHY ( I DON’T SPRING 4 LOVE )”, but top-to-bottom, this is an exceptional listen.
bonus! her Tiny Desk is a great watch, too.

For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) by Japanese Breakfast

what a perfect April showers May flowers listen. play this one while baking inside during the rain, or while doing some kind of fiber arts or maybe watercoloring or something idk. you get what’s being evoked.
the strings in this album are just absolutely glorious. go forth and be influenced.
my favorite track is “Orlando in Love”. it is like a blossoming flower.

Forever Howlong by Black Country, New Road

wowie oh wowie. this is a really good album. if you’re looking for a “cool-person” album to play a lot this April (as in, fantastic music that pretentious people love too), this is the album for you.
maximalist! folksy! lyrical! haunting! I honestly think if you’re a longtime BC,NR fan and you don’t think this album holds up to their earlier work, you probably just don’t like women. there, I said it.
my favorite track is “Two Horses”, and it is my favorite song that I have heard in many years. seriously. it’s like Trisha tavern cosplay crossed with Joanna Newsom. go forth and be influenced.

SPECIAL MENTION!!! “Azizam” by Ed Sheeran

hilarious, catchy pop track that I also believe is a fantastic example of cultural diplomacy.
rumor has it that he’s recording a version fully in Farsi, doing more good for Western perceptions of Iran in one 3-minute pop song than the entirety of Martyr!, probably.
OH, to be in LA with a bunch of Iranian-Americans when “Azizam” comes on. we should all be so lucky to encounter such joy. it’s a hypothetical scenario. but it would be awesome.

And with that, I will share a final, phenomenal song (and video) from my youth. GO FORTH AND LISTEN TO MUSIC YOU LIKE.