In a now-deleted comment Lorde gave an update to gabatron9 in response to being asked if fans "will ever get another album or should we just give up on you as an artist?"

Debut album Pure Heroine was released in 2013. A three or four year gap between records is nothing these days.

"Give up on me if you want to!" Lorde replied. "I'm an artist, I write a record when I have enough special stories to tell. It's all me, every melody every lyric, not some team who just start the machine up every eighteen months like clockwork. The record is written, we're in the production stages now. I've worked like a dog for a year making this thing great for you guys."

Despite not releasing an album for a while, Lorde's certainly kept busy - she paid tribute to David Bowie at this year's BRIT Awards, has worked with Broods and Disclosure, and curated the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

Lorde being amazing re fans getting in a flap about her new album pic.twitter.com/mtae3Ubke1

— Michael Cragg (@MichaelCragg) August 24, 2016