Lorde has risen
A song I love + a new man I've decided to hate
Guys I’m starting to think the busiest girl in Brooklyn might be…me? I never fully finished this edition of the newsletter, but I felt you deserved this content before the end of the weekend, which is less than an hour and a half from now.
This newsletter is all about religious prophets and I will be praying for your forgiveness. Thx!
Last week started with the news that Pope Francis died right after Easter. The week ended with Lorde’s return. Coincidence?
If you joined Lorde’s text line a few weeks ago, you received a message last Tuesday afternoon. “Meet me in the park Tonight 7pm - x x.”
Obviously she meant Washington Square Park—It’s where she was running around along to a snippet of her new song in a recent TikTok. She later posted the park-hang agenda on her Instagram story, sharing the plans with her 11 million Instagram followers. I don’t know what she was thinking. What was anyone thinking? Thousands of people showed up! Even Lucy Dacus.
At 6:50, she posted again. “Omg @thepark the cops are shutting us down. I am truly Amazed by how many of you showed up !! But they’re telling me you gotta disperse … I’m so sorry.”
The crowd made their own fun—producer Dev Hynes rolled a blasting speaker through the masses. Fans chanted the lyrics to “Supercut” on the streets.
A couple of hours later Lorde showed up and sang and danced along to “What Was That.” The footage ended up in the song’s music video, which was released with the single at midnight on Thursday.
If the theme of this record is being stupid in Washington Square Park, my inner NYU student is going to love this.
“What Was That” feels like a return to form for Lorde. The existential and angsty dance-pop of Melodrama continues to be one of my favorite albums of the 2010s. But I wasn’t the biggest fan of her last record, “Solar Power.” I get annoyed when rich people suggest that I throw my phone away.
It’s notable that, after putting out an album all about embracing nature and self care (I throw my cellular device into the water. Can you reach me? No! You can’t!), Lorde’s latest music promotion is very online. She’s posting on TikTok and IG. She’s texting us and sending us voice notes. She’s dancing at Baby’s All Right. Lorde clearly put her phone in some rice and got to work. I hope her screentime continues to go up. It’s what the world needs!
💌 LOVE NOTES 💌
Quick beats from the week:
I have now seen both Daryl Hall and John Oates. But not Hall & Oates. My parents and I went to see John Oates at Sony Theater last Wednesday night. (We saw Daryl last summer at Bethel Woods!) I was part of the minority of audience members under the age of 60 and I consumed an undrinkable French 75, but you know I was still vibing. The opener was so horrible that his vocals made me laugh out loud. But he’s not as famous as Benson Boone and does not deserve my hate.
Speaking of hate? Another male musician has inspired me to become a hater. For some reason Spotify really wants me to listen to Djo. Perhaps better known as Joe Keery from Stranger Things. He’s called Djo because it sounds like Joe. He made it to the All Things Go lineup, which frequently emphasizes female and queer artists. It feels like everyone agreed that this was okay without asking me first. Stay tuned for more content from my hater side. She’s ready.
On Thursday night I saw Lucy Dacus at Radio City. Katie Gavin opened, which I was actually more excited about prior to the show. It was so refreshing to see her with a full live band. And I was pleasantly surprised by Lucy’s set—I haven’t been loving her new album Forever Is a Feeling (I wrote about it a few weeks ago), but her live band invigorates some of the more meh songs. This makes me wonder if the issues I have with the album are production related…She also performed “Nonbeliever,” one of my top 3 songs on my favorite Lucy record, “Historian.” ALSO I was sitting three rows behind Bowen Yang. The reason this is important is below 👇
There are only two things you actually need to know about me. My name is Natalia and my favorite podcast is Las Culturistas. They end every episode with a song. I end every newsletter with a song.
Apparently not every person who knows me knows this song? I’ve failed so many of you and I’m sorry.
joining you on the djo hate train based on nothing but vibes