Lorde Is Holding Off on Her New Album Until She's Done Grieving Her Dead Dog

The best thing about pets is everything. They’re always there for you, because they love you and also because you keep them locked in your house. You know they’ll never screw you over, because not only are they entirely reliant on you for their survival, but they also can’t talk. (Or, as we just established, leave.) Pets are the best! The worst thing about pets is that eventually, they die, suffusing you with irrepressible sadness that makes it impossible for you to finish your album in a timely manner.

Lorde knows both of these facts all too well, and in a note posted on Saturday, explained to her fans that the hold-up on her next record is on account of the tragic loss of her dog, Pearl.

“I’ve been working away on the new songs for most of this year in New Zealand. It’s been going pretty well, but something happened last month that I need to tell you about. Some of you may know about Pearl, my dog. Pearl came into my life in 2018, and almost immediately changed everything for me. As anyone who has had the pleasure of raising a dog can understand, my life grew exponentially. Pearl brought an immeasurable amount of joy and purpose into my world.”

“One day we woke up and I knew, in that way mothers do, that he was sicker than we had realised, and that we were nearing a point where his body wasn’t going to be able to cope. I rushed him to the specialists. Pearl had two cardiac arrests about an hour apart, and after the second one, he died. I was holding him when he went, and I know he knew that I was there. But this loss has been indescribably painful, and a light that was turned on for me has gone out.”

Lorde goes on to explain what Pearl’s loss means for that album she was working on:

“I have lost my boy, and I need some time to see the good again, to finish making this [album] for you. It won’t be the same work—as anyone who has felt loss can understand, there’s a door that opens that you step through, and everything is different on the other side.”

I hope that the other side holds an album full of bangers, and maybe, when the time is right, a new dog. RIP Pearl.