Latest news with #EllaYelichO'Connor
Otago Daily Times
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Lorde confirms South Island concert
Lorde performs at Glastonbury in England last month. Lorde hinted the bill for her world tour would be added to, and finally the Kiwi singer has shared 2026 dates for her New Zealand set. Lorde, whose real name is Ella Yelich O'Connor, will play in Auckland on Wednesday February 11, followed by Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch on Friday February 13. The Ultrasound tour kicks off in the US in September, with 45 dates listed on the initial lineup that dropped May 9. This morning New Zealand and Australia tour dates were added. Hinting that New Zealand was always going to get a show, she said last month: 'I'm feeling really keen to spend a bit more time in Aotearoa as well, which has been sort of something I've been missing the last couple of years." Her fourth album, Virgin, was released at the end of June, following a string of compelling promotional activities. The album has reached number one in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, while charting at number two in the US. Lorde debuted the track 'What Was That' in April at an impromptu set at Washington Square Park, sharing new music for the first time since 2021. The next month she popped up at a Lorde-themed club night in Sydney for a boogy. And, at the end of May, on the eve of the Aotearoa Music Awards, a cryptic invitation lured Kiwi fans to a late night session in the loo of an inner-city YMCA. There, she pulled out a lighting case from one of the toilet cubicles, turning it into a make-shift stage and serving unreleased singles - 'Current Affairs', 'Ribs' and 'Broken Glass'. After the NZ shows, Lorde will perform in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. This will be the singer's biggest world tour. Presale tickets go on sale at 1pm Tuesday July 15 via while Frontier Members can access presale tickets from 2pm Thursday July 17. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 2pm (local time) on Friday July 18. Lorde last played in New Zealand in 2023 at the Outer Fields Festival at Western Springs in Auckland.
1News
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- 1News
'I've never felt stronger', Lorde says as she releases album Virgin
Ella Yelich O'Connor, aka Lorde, has gone on a ride in and out of "various existential crises" in the lead up to the release of her new album. But this week, the Auckland born musician told RNZ she was finally at peace. Nervous, but at peace. She shared her fourth album, Virgin, in full with audiences in New York on Monday night. On Wednesday evening, Kiwi fans got their first listen at parties around the country and on midnight Friday, it dropped around the world. "I had the sense last night that I've kind of left it all on the field, as I say in one of the songs on this album," she told RNZ's Tony Stamp. "….I felt that I pushed it about as far as I could and really excavated a lot that was very deep in me. So I'm feeling quite peaceful today." Cover photo for Lorde's new single What Was That. (Source: Lorde/Instagram) ADVERTISEMENT Lorde's promotion of this album has been dynamic. She debuted the track What Was That in April at an impromptu set at Washington Square Park, sharing new music for the first time since 2021. The next month she popped up at a Lorde-themed club night in Sydney for a boogie. At the end of May, on the eve of the Aotearoa Music Awards, a cryptic invitation lured Kiwi fans to a late night session in the loo of an inner-city YMCA. There, she pulled out a lighting case from one of the toilet cubicles, turning it into a make-shift stage and serving unreleased singles — Current Affairs, Ribs and Broken Glass. There's also been the intimate interviews — most notably the Rolling Stone cover story in which the 28-year-old revealed her struggles with disordered eating, psychedelic drug use and an "expansive" journey with gender. She told RNZ this week that her disordered eating emerged in the pandemic. "I think a lot of women had a similar experience where, you know, there was so little that you could control except for kind of your own body. Lorde appears on the cover of Rolling Stone. (Source: Rolling Stone) "It felt like something happened algorithmically as well. There was this very harmful, dark fitness underbelly that came through. ADVERTISEMENT "…. I think a lot of women… unfortunately, sort of went down. It sort of feels like some illness that is dormant in you, you know, as a woman in our culture that, yeah, kind of took me for a bit." The album Virgin, she says, reflected how she was gently trying to focus on how things felt rather than how things looked and 'seeing what happens'. "I've never felt more love and respect for my body. I've never felt stronger. I'm very physically strong now and I'm proud of how that strength looks on me. "… I had this feeling the other day of, you know, I wish there was more of me because I just, you know, that's the degree to which my thinking has changed around my body." Unlike the home-based Solar Power album, part of Virgin was written in Lorde's New York apartment, and a new music video dropped with scenes filmed in Hampstead Heath during 2023. She described the album as "city music" which reflected her gritty experiences abroad. "There's kind of an ugliness to the world of Virgin," she explains. "There's an economy, sort of something quite unsparing and a bit gross… which I think sort of comes from city life, from being in these shared spaces. I think of the pigeons as being, like, legitimately a key part of Virgin as crazy as that sounds. ADVERTISEMENT "You know, sometimes if someone takes a photo of you and you're like, I don't necessarily love this, but I know that's how I look. That's what I was trying to do with Virgin." The album art for Lorde's new album, Virgin. (Source: Lorde) Virgin was also somewhat of a break-up album, but not in the way fans might expect. 'There is a real sort of sovereignty to Virgin that comes from cutting a whole lot of cords, whether they be to… keeping yourself as small as possible in your body or denying… the fullness of your gender.' The shift in intensity of Virgin, she says, is a reflection of a 'wildness I needed to be in touch with'. I understood this after I finished making the album, but the album is particularly sort of like fleshy and bodily, I think, as a response to, partly as a response to feeling our world and seeing the female body sort of get increasingly kind of optimised and kind of being this site for sort of tech in many different ways. 'I got back on social media and was like, there's a kind of female body that I'm really craving. And I think I have to use my own to see it.' ADVERTISEMENT In her own words, the album at times sounds like 'a construction site, or a siren or something'. It's unrefined and crude, she says. '…There was this intensity that I was looking for that was not masked necessarily, like more sort of tapping into something very deep in me as a woman.' Like the unique promotion of the singles from this album, Lorde's fingerprints are all over the branding – from the IUD on the album cover to choice of Times New Roman as the font and the style of music videos. 'It's so handmade by me. '… I'm always like insanely invested, but this one was different. It just felt like really a conversation between me and like a really sort of deep part of myself going on.' Lorde's Ultrasound tour will kick off in September, and while New Zealand isn't yet named on the bill, she promises RNZ that schedule will be added to. 'I'm feeling really keen to spend a bit more time in Aotearoa as well, which has been sort of something I've been missing the last couple of years." Hear Lorde's full interview with Tony Stamp on RNZ's Music 101 on Saturday, June 28.
NZ Herald
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Lorde teases Auckland fans with potential surprise gig tonight
Lorde's hometown fans are on high alert after the singer hinted at an impromptu performance taking place in Tamaki Makaurau tonight. Just after 1pm New Zealand time, the Melodrama singer — born Ella Yelich O'Connor — posted a cryptic photo to her Instagram story showing the top right of
1News
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- 1News
Lorde releases new single after weeks of cryptic teases
Lorde has dropped her new single What Was That after weeks of cryptic posts and teases that set fans buzzing. It's the lead single from her upcoming fourth album and her first original solo release since 2021's Solar Power. The single, which is three minutes and 28 seconds in length, was released at 4pm New Zealand time. Some fans had been lucky enough to hear the track in full earlier this week. On Wednesday, Lorde posted a picture of Washington Square Park yesterday with the caption "tonight 7pm". Fans flooded the park an hour before she was supposed to appear, with photos shared of eager fans scaling trees to catch a glimpse of the singer. Shortly before she was to perform, the Royals singer took to social media to tell fans police had shut the event down. "Omg @thepark the cops are shutting us down," the message read. "I am truly amazed by how many of you showed !!! "But they're telling me you gotta disperse ... I'm so sorry." However, the pop-up event ended up going ahead after all, with fans who stayed getting their first full airing of Lorde's new single. Lorde, real name Ella Yelich O'Connor, announced the single last week, sharing a headshot-style photo of her wearing a red shirt with a dripping wet face. Earlier this month, she dropped a 15-second snippet of the unreleased song. In the video posted to TikTok on April 10, Lorde was seen wearing a white shirt and jeans while walking through New York City. "Since I was 17, I gave you everything/Now we wake from a dream, well baby, what was that? What was that?' she sings over a synth beat. It was the first sign of a follow up to Lorde's previous album, 2021's Solar Power. Her other albums were 2013's Pure Heroine and 2017's Melodrama. Last year, she collaborated with British singer Charli XCX on a remix of Girl, so confusing — on a re-release of the Grammy award-winning Brat.
1News
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- 1News
Lorde debuts single at NYC pop-up after police shut initial event
Lorde has debuted her new single What Was That at a surprise pop-up concert in New York City — that eventually went ahead after initially being shut down by police. The New Zealand singer posted a photo of Washington Square Park with the caption "tonight 7pm". Fans flooded the park an hour before she was supposed to appear, with photos shared of eager fans scaling trees to catch a glimpse of the singer. Fans packed out Washington Square Park in New York City to get a glimpse of the Kiwi singer. (Source: Supplied) Shortly before she was to perform, the Royals singer took to social media to tell fans police had shut the event down. ADVERTISEMENT "Omg @thepark the cops are shutting us down," the message read. "I am truly amazed by how many of you showed !!! "But they're telling me you gotta disperse ... I'm so sorry." However, the pop-up event ended up going ahead after all, with fans who stayed getting their first full airing of Lorde's new single. Lorde, real name Ella Yelich O'Connor, announced the single last week, sharing a headshot-style photo of her wearing a red shirt with a dripping wet face. Presumed to be the single's cover art, it was taken by New York-based photographer Talia Chetrit. ADVERTISEMENT Earlier this month, she dropped a 15-second snippet of the unreleased song. In the video posted to TikTok on April 10, Lorde was seen wearing a white shirt and jeans while walking through New York City. "Since I was 17, I gave you everything/Now we wake from a dream, well baby, what was that? What was that?' she sings over a synth beat. It was the first sign of a follow up to Lorde's previous album, 2021's Solar Power. Her other albums were 2013's Pure Heroine and 2017's Melodrama. Last year, she collaborated with British singer Charli XCX on a remix of Girl, so confusing — on a re-release of the Grammy award-winning Brat.
