What Was That?

Lorde just dropped new music and I'm freaking out

My life is defined by two major eras.

The first is 2013, when Lorde dropped her debut album, Pure Heroine.

Neon green bedroom walls, the crisp Pacific Northwest autumn chill, scrolling through Tumblr, reblogging Niall Horan one-shots, Zoella videos playing in the background. Apple cider and vanilla candles.

The second is 2017, when she dropped Melodrama.

Hot summer air with the car windows down, orange and pink sunsets, high school parties, highways and traffic lights, drama rehearsals, concerts, late-night diners.

Those albums didn’t just define my music taste — they defined entire chapters of my life.

Every song I love somehow traces back to Pure Heroine or Melodrama. They’re my entire music DNA.

So when I listened to “What Was That?”, Lorde’s new single dropped on April 24th, I almost cried. It sounds exactly like home — like the versions of Lorde that built me.

I had been hearing the sneak peeks floating around TikTok for a while — literally so excited!!! I’ve been waiting for Lorde to release new music for what feels like forever. After she collabed with Charli XCX for “girl, so confusing” on brat, I knew she was coming back and soon. I just didn’t know which route she’d take.

And if this is the route, I’m all in.

The first time I played it, I couldn’t help but dance — literally flailing my arms around like she does in her Washington Square Park performance, completely reckless, completely alive.

“WHAT WAS THAT!” makes you want to shout it into the night.

Sonically, the vibe is pulsating. There’s a deep bass line holding everything together, layered with all these raw, crashy, crisp percussive sounds (which is my favorite thing about Lorde’s production). It always feels organic and alive. There’s even this almost orchestral shimmer underneath, a little violin vibe that sneaks through. And the melodies?

So repetitive, so simple, but they hit something in my brain that I can’t explain.

It’s the kind of song you can scream at a midnight blue sky, walking home from a party you’re half glad you left.

I’ve been noticing this shift in pop music lately — songs like Charli XCX’s “party 4 u” and now “What Was That?” — this glittery, lonely afterparty energy.

Sparkly and sad at the same time.

It’s my favorite thing.

If Melodrama was the album of the party — the heat, the sweat, the drama, the neon blur of it all —

then Lorde’s next album feels like it’s going to be about the afterparty.

She’s grown up now.

She’s not caught in the chaos anymore — she’s reflecting on it. Wandering through the empty streets after the music cuts out, running her fingers over the wreckage of the night, figuring out what was real and what was just noise.

It feels more introspective. More layered.

The high is gone, but the memories are even sharper.

There’s still a sparkle to it, but it’s a quieter, sadder kind of sparkle — like the glitter left on your skin the morning after.

I cannot wait for Lorde summer.