Lorde has released her first new music in three years and revealed the title of her much-anticipated sophomore album.
The 20-year-old Royals singer from New Zealand shared new single "Green Light" and its accompanying video on Thursday after teasing the song on social media for a number of weeks.
She also revealed that the follow-up to her critically-acclaimed debut Pure Heroine would be called "Melodrama."
The song has already racked up significant hits on YouTube and been widely praised by critics for its euphoric chorus and sophisticated songwriting.
While there is no release date for "Melodrama" as of yet, Lorde also shared the album’s artwork, a moody painting of her by 31-year-old Brooklyn artist Sam McKinniss.
Ahead of its release, Lorde had said on Twitter that the song was, “different, and kinda unexpected. complex and funny and sad and joyous and it’ll make you DANCE.” The video, directed by Grant Singer, sees Lorde cutting loose in an unnamed city, dancing in clubs, bathrooms, in the streets and on top of a car.
Long-awaited comeback
In an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, she discussed the new song and video, and what she's been up to since her debut album. “The song is actually about a heartbreak. And it’s not something that I really am used to writing about.
It took me a while to be able to figure out how to write about that. It was my first major heartbreak. And the song is really about those moments kind of immediately after your life changes and about all the silly little things that you gravitate towards.”
On the concept for the video, she said: “This is that drunk girl at the party dancing around crying about her ex-boyfriend who everyone thinks is a mess.” She also talked about why she has taken her time in following up her debut.
"For me it was kind of about processing what I want to say next and I knew it just couldn't be any old thing. It had to be really special and really singular and it couldn't sound the same as the old stuff and there was a lot of discovery that went on."
Ahead of the album's release, Lorde has been announced as the musical guest on SNL next week and will play a number of festivals in the coming months.
