LORDE: The Waiting Is the Greatest Part

Lorde gave fans a tantalizing update on Wednesday, revealing she’d made a good bit of progress on a new album just before the coronavirus outbreak.

Lorde, who hasn’t released anything new in more than three years, sent a long E-mail that started off with the state of her hair — which is “big and long again.” She got down to business soon after, telling followers, “I started going back to the studio again in December, just for something to do, and to my surprise, good things came out. Happy, playful things. I felt my melodic muscles flexing and strengthening.”

And yes, she’s recruited her Melodrama collaborator Jack Antonoff to pitch in. “Jack and I FaceTimed for over an hour this morning going over everything. But it’ll take a while longer. Waiting, the thing that felt so pointless and annoying when I was young, is now this kind of delicious activity.

And it sounds like she’s itching to tour, too. “I know now how excited I am to get back out there. I want to eat summer foods in beautiful countries — ice cream and tomatoes and anchovies. Who knows when it’ll be safe to do those things, but I’m craving them.