Lorde Returned to the Stage With a Surprise Cover Song

Everyone's favorite elusive chanteuse (sorry, Mariah) Lorde surprised the audience at a Marlon Williams in New Zealand last night. According to Pitchfork, Lorde (real name: Ella Yelich-O'Connor) joined Williams to perform a surprise cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest," which appears on his 1987 album Tunnel of Love. Videos of the duet were posted to social media.

Fans have been waiting for new material from Lorde since her 2017 album, Melodrama. Though the unexpected Springsteen song isn't exactly what they were expecting, it is something to fill the void. Harper's Bazaar notes that Lorde has been teasing new music since May 2020.

"I started going back to the studio in December [2019], just for something to do, and to my surprise, good things came out," she shared on her Instagram Stories. "Happy, playful things. I felt my melodic muscles flexing and strengthening."

In an interview with Vulture, she explained that a trip to Antarctica was what sparked her new material. She's working with producer Jack Antonoff on the yet-to-be-named album. Antonoff worked with Taylor Swift (Lorde's BFF) on her latest albums, evermore and folklore.

"When I went to Antarctica, I hadn't yet started writing again after finishing Melodrama," she said in an email to her fans. "I realised after the trip that what my brain had been craving was a visit to an alternate realm."

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The love goes both ways, too. Pitchfork adds that Springsteen covered Lorde's "Royals" during a concert stop in New Zealand.