Lorde on What Made Her 'Peace Out' from Social Media and 'Massive Amounts of Stress' She Was Feeling

Lorde is opening up about why she took a step back from social media several years ago.

In a conversation with Cazzie David for Interview magazine, the "Royals" singer said that there were various outside factors, including climate change and systemic racism, that prompted her to limit her public presence.

"Part of what made me peace out on social media, apart from feeling like I was losing my free will, was the massive amounts of stress I was feeling about our planet, about systemic racism, and about police brutality in this country," she said.

Aside from a few posts here and there, Lorde, 24, has remained mostly absent from social media since mid-2018.

Two of the rare exceptions have come in the past several months. In October, the New Zealand artist urged fans to vote in the country’s election and teased new music in a series of posts on her Instagram Stories, according to Twitter account Pop Crave.

"Do it for our beautiful country and for me," Lorde wrote in reference to the October election. "And next year I'll give you something in return."

She also resurfaced in May to discuss new music, which would mark her first album since the release of her critically acclaimed and commercially successful sophomore album, Melodrama, in 2017.

"I can tell you, this new thing, it's got its own colours now," she wrote in an email newsletter to fans. "If you know anything about my work, you'll know what that means."

Lorde announced back in November 2019 that her third album would be delayed after the death of her dog sent her into a state of deep grief, but she was back in the studio with producer Jack Antonoff in December when she began to feel her "melodic muscles flexing and strengthening." The two flew back and forth between Auckland, New Zealand, and Los Angeles to get together in the studio and work.

"We're still working away — Jack and I FaceTimed for over an hour this morning going over everything. But it'll take a while longer," she explained in her email. "I want nothing more than to feed you treats, pop perfect morsels straight into your little mouths. But as I get older I realize there's something to be said for the pleasant feeling of waiting for something of quality to become available to you. You could have something of lesser quality much faster, but as the high-quality thing comes into fruition, a warm feeling grows inside you."

"The work is so f—ing good, my friend. I am truly jazzed for you to hear it. We're ready when you are, friend," she concluded.