Lorde thrills fans by crashing Lorde-themed club night in Sydney

New Zealand pop star was ‘straight into the crowd, singing along, soaking it up’

Lorde fans in Sydney had a party they will never forget on Sunday evening, after the musician spontaneously rocked up at a Lorde-themed club night in the Australian city.

The New Zealand singer, 28, surprised all the attendees at Mary’s Underground at the weekend, who had all gathered for an event dedicated to “our true Lorde and saviour”.

According to fans at the club night, Lorde entered the dancefloor and started shaking fans’ hands, before suddenly everyone realised who she was and the cheers began and the smartphones came out.

Attendee Andrew Fraser told The Guardian it was a “total thrill”, and that Lorde hung out there for about half an hour.

He said: “Lorde made her way through the swarm of people, going between dancing and taking a moment to greet, hug and converse with multiple fans, allowing each to have their moment and to explain what her music means to them.”

The Grammy winner also did a stint behind the DJ decks and sang along to tracks including her recent single “What Was That”.

When she was about to leave, her Charli XCX remix “Girl, So Confusing” came on and she couldn’t resist staying to do a lip-sync.

Lorde at the 2025 Met Gala (Getty Images for The Met Museum/)

According to Lorde’s label EMI, the appearance was Lorde’s own “impromptu decision”, with no label involvement.

A spokesperson for Mary’s Underground did say that Lorde’s security team had visited the space before she showed up.

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“We tried to shuffle her to the green room but she wasn’t having it. Straight into the crowd, singing along, soaking it up,” Mary’s said in a statement. “[She] almost refused to leave when her management were trying to usher her out.”

“What Was That” appears on Lorde’s new album Virgin, which will be released on 27 June.

Lorde’s nightclub appearance comes just weeks after she debuted “What Was That” in an impromptu performance at Washington Square Park in New York.

Earlier in the day, the singer had teased her appearance with a message on her fan text line reading: “Meet me in the park Tonight 7pm -xx.”

And earlier this month, Lorde shared an update about her gender identity and how she’s describing herself ahead of her new album release.

During an interview with Rolling Stone, the opening lyrics to the singer’s upcoming album were revealed to be: “Some days I’m a woman/Some days I’m a man.”

This prompted the interviewer to ask what that line means in relation to her gender identity. “[Chappell Roan] asked me this,” she told the publication. “She was like, ‘So, are you nonbinary now?’ And I was like, ‘I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.’ I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.”

Lorde describes herself as a cisgender woman and still uses the pronouns she/her. She specifically used the phrase “in the middle gender-­wise” when talking about her self-identification.