Lorde fans headed out in droves after the singer confirmed a surprise performance in a New York City park this week – but things didn’t exactly go to plan.
Around 5:30pm on Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning in Australia), fans of the Kiwi singer, 28, received a text saying to meet the singer “in the park”.
The message was quickly deciphered to mean Washington Square Park, the same place she posted her first ever TikTok from just a few weeks ago.
For a while, it was only Lorde’s biggest fans that knew of the surprise pop-up performance. But everything changed when the Ribs hitmaker made an announcement on her Instagram Story, with the unprecedented demand forcing police to intervene.
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Lorde had announced on Instagram that she would be at the park at 7:00pm, with hoards of fans beginning to gather.
However, around 6:47pm – mere minutes before she was due to appear in front of hundreds of eager fans – the New York Police Department (NYPD) and park rangers shut the event down.
Lorde’s team announced to fans that the event would no longer be going ahead and that she would not be coming out, instructing them all to leave the park.
“A sound and parks permit is required to have a concert in a New York City Park. This individual did not possess either,” a statement shared with Vulture by a spokesperson for the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information said.
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“Organisers of the event were informed they could not perform and they left the location.”
It wasn’t long before the singer took to her Instagram story again, telling fans she was “so sorry” but that they needed to “disperse”.
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Fans began to leave the park, but not before first singing some of Lorde’s biggest hits together.
Then, around 8pm, Lorde’s close friend and collaborator Dev Hynes (otherwise known as Blood Orange) appeared to play her new single, What Was That, on a portable speaker, marking the first time the public had heard the song in full.
While many assumed that the singer had no more surprises left in store, she soon shocked everyone.
At 9:30pm the unexpected happened – Lorde appeared at Washington Square Park.
Wearing baggy jeans and a white button-up with a bikini underneath, the Green Light songstress stood atop a wooden table and instead of performing the track life, she simply danced to her new hit as fans cheered her on.
“You guys are so amazing,” she told the remaining crowd. “I love you so much.”
Compared to earlier in the evening, the crowd had thinned out quite significantly with only handfuls left to enjoy the dance performance.
However, passers by quickly joined the commotion.
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It wasn’t long before Lorde and her team packed up and headed home, but it was enough to cause a commotion on social media.
“Life isn’t real. i saw Lorde perform in Washington Square Park and I randomly met blood orange,” wrote one fan on X (formerly Twitter).
“LORDE DID NOT SHOW UP TO WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK WHEN I LEFT. IT WAS AI. DO NOT KEEP SPREADING THE VIDEO. ITS FAKE,” joked another fan on the platform who presumably left when told to disperse by police.
What Was That will mark Lorde’s first new music in four years since her 2021 album Solar Power.
In lieu of her newsletter, she has been using texts to keep fans updated sending out a voice message after her surprise Coachella appearance alongside Charli XCX.
“I just wanted to say hi because everything is about to change and these are really the last moments where it’s just us, which is crazy but so right,” she said.
“I’m so ready. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to say that, but I am. I’m so thankful for your patience.
“I’ve felt your love, I’ve felt you right there. This is gonna be crazy, you have no idea.”
So, as those in the States have begun to declare, Lorde summer is officially here (or Lorde winter for us Aussies).
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