Lorde has parted ways with Universal Music Group, to which she has been signed in some form since she was 12 years old. The New Zealand-born artist opted not to renew her deal following its recent expiration. Her final album with UMG, Virgin, was released in June 2025.
“I have been in that contract for a very, very long time, in some form of that contract since I was 12 years old, when I signed my first development deal with Universal,” Lorde told fans in a voice note. “And I adore them. They’re incredible people and I had an amazing experience with them. But the truth is that a 12-year-old girl pre-sold her creative output before she knew what it would be like, and before she knew what she was signing away.”
Lorde emerged out of nowhere with her 2013 debut, Pure Heroine, at the age of 16. That album featured the breakthrough single “Royals,” which rapidly turned her into a worldwide star. Lorde’s subsequent Universal albums were 2017’s Melodrama and 2021’s Solar Power.
“I knew that I needed to take a second to have nothing being bought or sold that comes from me,” she revealed. “When I see an opportunity for a clean slate, I try to take it. And it does feel different. It sounds like it wouldn’t, but it really does. I feel a feeling of openness and possibility and I’m inspired.”
The artist, who turns 30 in November, said she’s working hard to obtain a driver’s license, is learning to play chess and has opened a new office focused on her day-to-day career. “It just feels exciting to have, I don’t know, removed the container or something, for a second,” she told fans. “So yeah, newness is kind of the theme. Clean slate, openness, newness.”
Lorde is hardly disappearing, though. In fact, she’s currently in South America for a handful of festival shows, and will also play mega-fests such as Jazz Fest in New Orleans, Governors Ball in New York and Lollapalooza in Chicago this summer.