SHE’S known for her chart-topping hits about the euphoric highs and devastating lows that come with falling in love.
And Lorde’s latest relationship drama should provide her with plenty of material for her next album.
Lorde played a surprise set at Glastonbury Festival last weekend[/caption]
The singer appeared to make her new romance with music producer Jim-E Stack public at Glastonbury last weekend, with the couple spotted with their arms around each other watching The 1975 headline the Pyramid Stage on Friday night, as revealed by The Sun.
The double Grammy award-winning singer had played a surprise set at Worthy Farm earlier in the day, when herself and Stack were seen getting close on stage during their performance.
But the loved-up pics sparked a bitter backlash online – led by Stack’s “fuming” ex-girlfriend, US singer Kacy Hill.
Kanye West’s former backing dancer-turned-singer took to TikTok to subtly claim her music maker ex-boyfriend ended their six-and-half-year relationship for Lorde, after the pair collaborated on her new album Virgin.
Mindful of the singer’s passionate fan base, Kacy, 31, resisted the temptation to give Lorde, 28, a blatant blasting on social media.
Instead she posted a video which shows her slow clapping alongside the caption: “Let’s hear it for the man who ended my 6.5 year relationship while making a girl’s album then started dating her,” to the soundtrack of Lorde’s single Man of the Year.
Meanwhile observers are suggesting that Lorde has form for dating her producers.
Her romance with Stack comes eight years after the singer, who has recorded three UK Top 10 albums, struck up a rumoured romance with another producer, Jack Antonoff, who was behind her 2017 album Melodrama, while he was dating actress Lena Dunham, 39.
Lorde and Stack had previously been snapped snuggling up together on a park bench in New York in October last year.
According to insiders, Kacy is quietly fuming and believes Lorde broke “girl code”.
Lorde and Jim E-Stack were seen looking close in October 2024[/caption]
A source said: “Kacy feels let down by both Jim and Lorde.
“Six-and-a-half years is a long time and for their relationship to end in this way is hard to take, it’s a real blow – especially as he’s left her for another singer.
“But in regards to Lorde it’s down to girl code, which she has dismantled big time.
“She doesn’t seem to care about Kacy’s feelings, which has been hard for her to take.”
Kacy, meanwhile, has continued to reassure fans over her well-being following the break-up, posting light-hearted videos about how bagels are cheering her up, while also attempting to construct a narrative her relationship with Stack “certainly wasn’t working” when he hooked up with Lorde.
Sources close to the New Zealander insist there was no crossover.
But that did little to quell the rumour mill, particularly as on one of the songs on the album – Current Affairs – she sings about the emotional distress from an illicit relationship.
But, as alluded to earlier, there is enough evidence to suggest Kacy would be rightfully concerned over her partner working on an album with Lorde.
Lorde has only recently split from her boyfriend Justin Warren, who was 17 years her senior.
I had this feeling that I had never been alone… There’d always been someone, not even necessarily a romantic partner. And often that was an older person. I was always choosing someone to be God
Lorde
She first met Justin in 2009, when Lorde was a teenager signed to Universal Music, where he is an executive, in her native New Zealand.
In 2015 they were rumoured to be dating, and while they never spoke about their romance – in 2016 Justin labelled speculation they were dating as “ridiculous” – he was often by her side.
Lorde, real name Ella Yelich O’Connor, confirmed she went through a “painful” breakup in 2023 during an interview with Rolling Stone, admitting: “It continues to be a relationship that I cherish.”
She told the magazine: “I had this feeling that I had never been alone… There’d always been someone, not even necessarily a romantic partner. And often that was an older person. I was always choosing someone to be God.”
Justin Warren and Lorde at a game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks in November 2021[/caption]
Lorde is rumoured to have grown close to producer Jack Antonoff – 13 years her senior at 41 – during the making of her second album in 2017, while she was still believed to be with Justin.
He had been in a relationship with Tiny Furniture star Lena, but the pair had started to drift due to the lack of the time they were spending together, as the actress was a key part of Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign trail.
There were rumours that several of the tracks on the album were about Jack and Lorde’s blossoming romance, including Green Light – which Lorde said herself she was inspired to write after attending a concert with the producer.
Another track which raised eyebrows was Sober, explained by the singer in this Tweet: “I’ll never forget writing the first demo it was like a trance I guided Jack to the chords almost wordlessly with my hands on his shoulders.”
The rumours intensified when a fan created a PowerPoint presentation, which went viral, attempting to prove a legitimate romantic link between the two collaborators, which featured some compelling viewpoints.
Jack and Lena split in the December of 2017, just months after Melodrama was released.
In February 2018, Lorde and Jack were spotted looking very cosy in her hometown, Auckland, after they were snapped with her arms wrapped around him, both sporting huge grins.
Lorde and Lena were once very close, even living together at one point, but in an interview with The Cut in November 2018 the Girls star revealed she hadn’t spoken to the singer since her and Jack split.
Lena told the publication: “I don’t think anything happened between them. I can never know someone else’s life. I have never spoken to Ella [Lorde] about it. We haven’t talked since Jack and I broke up.
“It was awful, and I couldn’t do anything about it except trust that what he was saying to me was true.”
The pair broke their silence on the speculation, which at this time was in overdrive thanks to that PowerPoint presentation, by releasing their own statements on the alleged romance.
Jack tweeted shortly after they were spotted in Auckland: “Normally I would never address rumors but I resent having the most important friendships and working relationships in my life reduced to dumb hetero normative gossip.
“Those relationships are deeply important and sacred. With that said, I’m not seeing anyone. lol.”
The following month Lorde attempted to set the record straight herself, during an Instagram Live, saying: “Guys, Jack and I are not dating, for the last time.
“I love him, he’s awesome. But we’re not dating! Please!”
Love song
In April that year, on the Melodrama tour, Lorde sang a love song – a cover of St Vincent’s New York – accompanied by Jack on guitar and the pair enjoyed flirty banter on stage during a performance at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Fans remain convinced something went on between them eight years on, believing her electro-pop anthem What Was That, released in April, was her own Taylor Swift-style breakup song about Jack, mainly thanks to these lyrics: “Yeah, I’m missin’ you / And all the things we used to do.
“We kissed for hours straight, well, baby, what was that?”
For the cynics out there, Lorde’s new relationship with Stack was revealed just as her new album Virgin was released.
Last week Stack posted a tribute to Lorde on Instagram, writing: “There’s no one I’d rather be in the trenches with. Eternally grateful for the journey together. Love you forever Ella.”
Arguably it’s all handy timing for some much needed publicity.
Not that Lorde really needed it, as she garnered global attention by dropping a bombshell claim during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in May regarding her gender identity, revealing: “I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.”
It’s unlikely spurned singer Kacy will see that as an excuse for burning girl code.
Jim-E Stack pictured in 2018[/caption]
