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Lorde is an independent artist. In a voice message to her fans, she announced that she had not renewed her contract with Universal Music Group after it expired – the recording deal that which she completed at the age of twelve.
“I’ve been tied to this contract for a very, very long time, in some form of this contract since I was 12 when I signed my first development deal with Universal,” Lorde said. “And I love them. They’re incredible people and I had a great time with them. But the truth is, a twelve-year-old girl sold her creativity in advance – before she knew what it would feel like and before she knew what she was actually giving away.”
Lorde released her debut album, Pure Heroine, in September 2013, when she was 16 years old. The album established her as a new voice in pop – a literal ruler, as she had called for in her breakthrough single “Royals.” Another groundbreaking work, “Melodrama,” followed in 2017, followed by “Solar Power” in 2021 and finally “Virgin,” which was released in June 2025 as the last album under this deal.
New beginning after UMG
While she doesn’t rule out collaborating again with another label – even one under the UMG umbrella – Lorde is using this moment to familiarize herself with the unknown. “I knew I had to pause for a moment to not let anything that was coming from me be bought or sold,” she said. “When I see an opportunity for a real new beginning, I try to take it. And it actually feels different. It may not sound like it, but it really is. I feel an openness and a possibility – I’m inspired.”
Lorde still has a few festival appearances left, as well as the final dates of her Ultrasound World Tour, scheduled for later this year. She’s also currently learning chess, studying for her driver’s license (“I have to get my license before I turn 30. That’s not up for debate. Hold me to it.”) and recently rented an office.
“It just feels exciting to have the frame kind of taken off or something for a while,” Lorde said. “So yes, new things are kind of the theme – clean slate, openness, new things.” She mentioned that this freedom shows itself in different ways, such as her phone wallpaper that says, “I have no master.” “I’m really just trying to feel what it feels like,” she said. This is also noticeable on “Virgin,” especially in the song “David,” she added.
Lorde’s song “David”
In “David” she sings: “Oh, dark day/Was I just young blood to get on tape?/’Cause you dimmed me out when it got hard/Uppercut to the throat, I was off guard/Pure heroine mistakes for featherweight.”
“This idea that I kind of started to manifest in ‘David’ and obviously wants to continue to expand,” Lorde said. “I’m just trying to do weird stuff. I’m reading bizarre fucking books right now, some of which I don’t even know if I like. But there’s something new breaking out everywhere, and that feels good. It feels right.”
