That Ella Yelich-O’Connor sure does take her sweet time between albums! The artist better known as Lorde has been sharing intermittent updates in recent years regarding her progress on the follow-up to 2017’s absolute banger Melodrama, but she seems in no hurry to release it any time soon.

The new release Lorde is ready to announce is a book about her trip to Antarctica in early 2019. GOING SOUTH will be a 100-page softcover book with writing and photos by Harriet Were, who documented the voyage on film. It’s up for pre-order now for $29.99 and is expected to ship in mid-February. All of the project’s net proceeds will help Antarctica New Zealand, the organization that facilitated Lorde’s trip, “to support a postgraduate scholar to study climate change science.”

In her note announcing GOING SOUTH, Lorde says her trip helped her begin to conceptualize her new album: “When I went to Antarctica, I hadn’t yet started writing again after finishing Melodrama. I realised after the trip that what my brain had been craving was a visit to an alternate realm. Albums live in their own realms in a way, and Antarctica really acted as this great white palette cleanser, a sort of celestial foyer I had to move through in order to start making the next thing.” Later in the message, she writes, “The book is a sort of perfect precursor to this album in an abstract way, and it’s a cool little piece of the Lorde cinematic universe for you to own if you’d like to.”

Here’s the full message:

Hello you,

How’re you doing out there? Is it getting cold where you are, or warm like it is here? The beginning of summer is my favourite time in New Zealand, and this year in particular it feels like a gift — I’ve had two swims, and even eaten the first tomatoes. My container garden is established— this year I’ve got French beans, English and snow peas, tomatoes, Thai chillis, various herbs, rocket, mesclun, Malabar spinach, zucchini and cucumbers (I’m gonna be so fuckin stoked if those pop off; please send feedback on if the mailing list recipients want to see the results???!!). I’m thinking of my friends and loved ones experiencing opposite conditions in other parts of the world, keeping indoors, lighting candles and tightening circles. Hang in there, buds. You could watch the Queen’s Gambit, or Chinatown; give yourself a pedicure; listen to a Talking Heads album; go for a walk. These things help.

Well. I’m here in your inbox because I have some exciting news. Not that news. Don’t get too excited. Just a moderate amount.

In early 2019 I took a trip to Antarctica, funded and facilitated by the lovely folks at Antarctica New Zealand. The continent has fascinated me since I was old enough to read. It started to interest me again in recent years as my environmental awareness went up and up, and questions about how to change my personal and professional footprints on this earth occupied much of my time.
I was accompanied down there by my beautiful friend Harriet Were, who photographed our days, lugging all these cameras and lenses and film — yup, she shot completely on film in Antarctica — around in the snow. And the pictures turned out so beautiful, I thought it was only right to make them into a little catalogue-style book, alongside a piece of writing I did about my experience on the frozen continent. It’s called GOING SOUTH, and it’s a softcover book with over 100 pages of photos and writing.

When I went to Antarctica, I hadn’t yet started writing again after finishing Melodrama. I realised after the trip that what my brain had been craving was a visit to an alternate realm. Albums live in their own realms in a way, and Antarctica really acted as this great white palette cleanser, a sort of celestial foyer I had to move through in order to start making the next thing. In the plane coming down to land, I had this very intense bolt-of-lightning thought, which in all its eloquence was literally ‘DON’T MAKE SHIT RECORDS’, lol. I’ll always hold this trip up as a life highlight for many reasons, but I’m particularly grateful for it as one that showed me the beginnings of the new world which I continue to build, and am very excited to start showing you soon.

The book is a sort of perfect precursor to this album in an abstract way, and it’s a cool little piece of the Lorde cinematic universe for you to own if you’d like to. We’re doing preorders to get an idea of how many to produce, so it won’t arrive for Christmas I wouldn’t think, but the first 500 will come with a special picture postcard, signed by yours truly down here at the bottom of the world.

All net proceeds from the sale of this book will go towards a scholarship fund for an Antarctica New Zealand postgraduate scholar to study the science of climate change. Imagine if we could put someone through a climate-related PhD with this little book! It’s almost too awesome to think about.

Okay, that’s about all for now. I’ll put a link to the preorder here. Sending all of my love, all the time.

L x