1 week Ago By Emma Specter
Everything seems to be coming up Lorde this spring: Two weeks after teasing her new single , “What Was That,” on TikTok, the pop star made headlines last Tuesday for getting hundreds of her fans to flock to Washington Square Park to hear the full thing. (Predictably, the event was soon shut down by the police, but true Lorde stans will find a way—as the crowd proved by staging an extremely heartwarming impromptu singalong .) The chaos of the meet-up got me thinking about Lorde’s gift for timing; just when I’ve worn out the grooves on her most recent album or single, she’ll drop a new one, never overplaying her hand or overstaying her welcome.
Literally all of Lorde’s records are good (fight me!), but her singles in particular have the unique capacity to make me hit play over and over and over again. In that spirit, here’s a roundup of all the Lorde songs that have haunted me since the year 2013: 1. “Royals,” 2013 If you didn’t avoid the cold during your winter semester abroad in St.
Petersburg by sitting cross-legged on your bed and obsessively trying to learn “Royals” by heart until your hostel neighbor pounded angrily on your wall and threatened to kill you in Russian, I do not want to hear from you! In all seriousness, it’s a major credit to Lorde that a full decade later, this song still goes . 2. “What Was That,” 2025 It might seem crazy that this song has jumped to the internationally coveted number-two spot on my list when it was released a scant four days ago, but what can I say? I am insane, and as such, I have listened to “What Was That” approximately 40 times a day since then.
Lorde chain belt summer is officially on the horizon! 3. “Stoned at the Nail Salon,” 2021 As a frequent enjoyer of the act of being stoned at the nail salon, I was spiritually onboard with this song from the jump, but actually listening to it on repeat while getting a manicure post-vape session on a random afternoon three years ago is one of my most treasured pop-music memories. You have to make your own fun, girlies! Lorde knows! 4.
“Solar Power,” 2021 When this bop first came out, I was kind of a hater; I didn’t fully “get” the beach-video concept and I didn’t think the songwriting stood up to anything off of Melodrama . A mere few hundred semi-compulsive listens later, though, I was sold. I continue to maintain there is absolutely no better soundtrack for riding the city bus in a cute outfit than “Solar Power.
” 5. “Green Light,” 2017 It’s a testament to the power of this song’s hook that I can’t even see its name without screaming, “I’M WAITING FOR IT! THAT GREEN LIGHT! I WANT IT!” I will also never do my makeup in somebody else’s car (something I do frequently, as I often forget to put mascara on until I’m in the Uber) without thinking of Lorde. 6.
“Tennis Court,” 2013 It’s fun to look back at this video in 2025 (aw, Lorde’s little braid crown of the sort we all wore back then! Which made us all look like off-brand Swiss milkmaids!), but when it first dropped, I absolutely could not stop singing “Let’s go down to the tennis court” on a loop, despite the fact that never in my life have I successfully played a game of tennis. How do you get the ball..
.over the net? 7. “Mood Ring,” 2021 Is this my favorite Lorde single? No.
Is it a certified earworm and kind of a bop nonetheless? Absolutely..
