Lorde is now a fully independent artist. In a series of voice memos sent to fans on Wednesday (March 18), the New Zealand singer revealed the deal she first signed with Universal Music Group when she was 12 years old ended at the end of 2025.
“I adore them, they’re incredible people, and I have had an amazing experience with them,” she says about her time with UMG. “But the truth is that a 12-year-old girl pre-signed and pre-sold her creative output before she knew what it would be like and before she knew what she was signing away.”
Lorde goes onto state that she’ll likely sign a deal again some time in the future—which “could well be with Universal”—but that she “needed to take a second to have nothing being bought or sold that comes from me.”
“When I see an opportunity for a clean slate I take it,” she added. “And it does feel different. It sounds like it wouldn’t but it really does. I feel a feeling of openness and possibility and am inspired.”
Lorde spends the rest of her memos talking about what she’s been up to of late, from reading “bizarre fucking books” to playing chess with Addison Rae.
Lorde will spend the rest of 2026 on the road closing out her Ultrasound World Tour in support of 2025’s Virgin.
