As New Zealand was plunged back in level 4 lockdown after COVID cases resurfaced earlier this week, Lorde has penned a message to the Kiwi subscribers of her newsletter.
On Friday – the same day her new album Solar Power dropped – Lorde wrote to her New Zealand fans: “I’m sending this bulletin to Kiwis only – if you’re reading this, I guess you’re in lockdown right now.
“What a fucking shitter. This thing just doesn’t end. I hope you’re safe, and with people who don’t drive you up the wall. I hope you’re having some spirited household chats about what’s for lunch/dinner. Someone better have done some baking.”
The ‘Mood Ring’ singer explained that she was currently “sweltering” in New York as she promoted her album, saying she felt “weird” not being in the motherland during these uncertain times.
“I feel sensitive and fragile, like a little Christmas ornament. Releasing shit is always scary, I’m scared of being misunderstood, and I really want the album to be what you want or need,” Lorde said.
“I’ve been zipping round all day doing press and rehearsals, and my mind goes back to you twenty times a day. Friends send updates, but it’s weird not being there right now.”
Speaking of how the first lockdown affected her work on Solar Power, Lorde explained that it was a “bizarre five or six months of waiting around at home, wondering when I could get into a studio again”.
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“I didn’t work much at all in that time. I wasn’t really having ideas. What I did was walk, every day, for two or three hours,” she said.
“At first I read on the walks, because the streets were so empty I didn’t need to look up that often. I can see now that this was classic embarrassing lockdown behaviour, but it really was nice, walking and reading in the chilly sun.
“Like everyone else, lockdown brought up a bunch of crazy mental health shit for me; at home I’d feel emo, trapped, bad about my body, but on these long aimless walks I could feel the sun on my face and the cold clear air pumping in and out of my lungs, my legs pushing me forward, and it felt like the hypothesis of this weird thing I’d made was being reinforced, that going outside was medicine, or powerful magic, or something,” she said.
“I’d come back down the road to my house feeling like I’d taken care of myself.”
The Grammy winner ended her message of support by saying: “I hope you take Solar Power for a walk today, the same way I did over and over between March and May, moving at pace through the cold air (and hopefully a bit of sun), your steps keeping time. It means so much to me that you’re still here.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today declared that the country will extend its nationwide lockdown for another four days after recording another 11 cases of COVID.
The cabinet will meet again on Monday to decide if another extension is needed.
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Check out ‘Mood Ring’ by Lorde:
