She may have delayed her third album because of an unusual reason last year, but it seems like Lorde is well and truly back on track, creatively-speaking.

The Kiwi pop star sent her fans a message six months ago explaining that the follow-up to 2017's 'Melodrama' had been delayed because she was broken-hearted after her beloved dog Pearl died.

Now, she has given fans an update on her progress, and it looks like her third record is coming along swimmingly.

She admitted that it would take "a while longer" to finish, but that she was continuing to work on the album while in lockdown, and had been Facetiming her collaborator Jack Antonoff (of fun.) about it that very morning. "The work is so fucking good, my friend,” she said. “I am truly jazzed for you to hear it."

The 23-year-old also revealed that she had felt 'extremely grim' after touring for 'Melodrama' wound down. "I knew I needed a break from touring at the end of the last cycle," she said. "I was finding the combination of brutal stage fright and having no fixed home and no connection with what I ate or where I lived extremely grim. I needed to make some food, grow some stuff, go to the beach a bunch, finally acknowledge (and kick) my social media addiction.”

She added: “But I know now how excited I am to get back out there. I want to be playing festivals again — hearing my intro music, watching the band walk onstage. I want to devastate. I want to see a huge line of you outside my hotel. I want to hug you all, and hold your hands.

"I want to do interviews, talk about the record over and over until I know it inside out. I want to do photoshoots, make videos. I want to eat summer foods in beautiful countries — ice cream and tomatoes and anchovies. I want to use my gift, and watch it grow. Who knows when it’ll be safe to do those things, but I’m craving them, and I wanted you to know.”