Lorde released a new music video for “Leader of a New Regime” on Tuesday morning (Dec. 21).
In the clip, the New Zealand native appears alone on a tropical island, her hair plaited in a complicated dual braid as two young women ride a pair of horses out of the sea. “Wearing SPF 3000 for the ultraviolet rays/ Made it to the island on the last of the outbound planes/ Got a trunk full of Simone and Céline, and of course, my magazines/ I’m gonna live out my days,” she declares in harmony with herself on the track as she wanders the isle’s rocky shores and wades in tide pools.
Coming in at just 1:33, “Leader of a New Regime” is a near-interlude from the pop singer’s 2021 album, Solar Power. The surprise visual, which arrived with little to no fanfare ahead of its unveiling, follows videos for singles “Solar Power” and “Mood Ring,” as well as album cut “Fallen Fruit.”
After a more than four-year wait in the wake of 2017’s Melodrama, Lorde’s long-awaited third studio effort bowed at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 upon its Aug. 20 release with 56,000 album equivalent units. Since then, she’s followed the album up with a Maori-language sister EP titled Te Ao Mārama as well as bonus tracks “Hold No Grudge” and “Helen of Troy.”
While the singer has postponed her planned Australia and New Zealand tour dates to 2023 amid concerns about COVID-19, she’s next set to headline the first-ever Primavera Sound LA in September alongside Arctic Monkeys and Nine Inch Nails.
Watch Lorde’s “Leader of a New Regime” video below.
