A writer is a powerful thing for a woman to be. Like elephants, we are cursed with memories; no matter how much emotional progress is made, or how many drugs we may do, the details surrounding certain nights never leave us. Lorde really owned that idea in “Writer in the Dark,” from her 2017 masterwork-to-date Melodrama, cutting right to the point in the chorus: “Bet you rue the day you kissed a writer in the dark.” Her new song, “What Was That,” picks up spiritually where Melodrama left off, with all the memories of a lost fling flooding back to her now. Opening with soft-focus blinking chords à la all-timer “Supercut,” “What Was That” injects longing straight into the heart: Suddenly she’s in a back garden doing MDMA and making out with someone she doesn’t talk to anymore. It tastes like the best cigarette of her life—who wouldn’t yearn?
Now 28, the New Zealand-born singer-songwriter seems forever “holding out for that teenage feeling,” as Neko Case once put it, of a love that feels pure (or at the very least a man who won’t tell her she’s “too much”). Lorde’s raw, detailed dispatches from this pursuit are part of what makes her beloved by a certain sect of pop fans; she really makes you appreciate the highs in order to understand the pain of the lows. This quality also speaks to why Solar Power, her comparatively chill 2021 album, didn’t really work. On this essential level, “What Was That” is a step in the right direction. I just wish it hit harder musically.
Lorde maintains her signature sparseness in the production, which she worked on alongside Jim-E Stack and Dan Nigro. The beat is reminiscent of a post-dubstep pop hit from a decade ago—think Skrillex, Diplo, and Justin Bieber’s “Where Are Ü Now” or Halsey and the Chainsmokers’ “Closer”—with the build rising subtly in the chorus, followed by a squiggly synth riff serving as a mini “drop.” This is like the most tasteful version of that—but, if you’re going there, why not make the drop feel huge?
It’s a bold-but-shy half measure that’s in line with Lorde’s look in the “What Was That” video, where she power-walks through New York City wearing a tiny, black latex bikini top under a loose, white button-down. The video includes footage of her impromptu performance in Washington Square Park earlier this week, where she undid her top and danced like no one was watching under the glare of so many cellphone cameras. Lorde’s a New York girlie through and through these days, and the candid vibes of the city-set clip hint at an incoming Messy Era for the new album. (I mean, her alignment with Charli XCX ever since “Girl, So Confusing” could have told you that.) Let’s just hope the music goes as hard as the heartache.
