Lorde returned to the highlight in New Zealand this week, showing on the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards in Auckland on Thursday evening (Might 29), simply hours after internet hosting an intimate, invite-only efficiency inside a YMCA lavatory.
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The uncommon public look comes as Lorde ramps up promo for her upcoming album Virgin, due out June 27. Her attendance on the AMAs — New Zealand’s greatest evening in music — marks her first pink carpet look within the nation in a number of years.
The day prior, Lorde teased a cryptic Instagram submit displaying a cracked iPhone tucked into the waistband of a pair of denims, tagged “Auckland.” The submit included a hyperlink to a WhatsApp group, the place she invited followers to satisfy her within the metropolis that evening.
“Auckland I wanna play you one thing .. Meet me within the metropolis tonight? Message me in the event you’re eager,” she wrote.
Greater than 300 followers gathered exterior the YMCA venue, with small teams of 30 admitted each quarter-hour to witness the pop-up efficiency.
The efficiency got here in the future earlier than the discharge of Lorde’s new single “Man of the 12 months,” which follows earlier observe “What Was That.” Each songs will seem on Virgin, her first album since 2021’s Photo voltaic Energy.
Lorde’s progressive method to album promotion has included shock live shows, fan textual content blasts, and spontaneous performances in public areas. In April, she debuted “What Was That” in New York Metropolis’s Washington Sq. Park, drawing such a big crowd that the police shut it down. She carried out once more in the identical location just some hours later.
A number of early winners have been introduced on the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards forward of the principle ceremony, together with MOKOTRON (Finest Digital Artist), Cassie Henderson (Finest Pop Artist), and Holly Arrowsmith (Finest People Artist).
Lorde’s debut album Pure Heroine peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, with lead single “Royals” spending 9 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100. Her 2017 LP Melodrama debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and earned a Grammy nomination for album of the 12 months. Photo voltaic Energy, launched in 2021, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
Virgin arrives June 27 through Common Music New Zealand.