Shushgate: Why Clips Of Lorde Shushing Crowds Went Viral
The “Writer in the Dark” singer finally responded.
If you’ve been anywhere on stan Twitter lately, you’ve probably seen that viral video of Lorde shushing fans during performances of “Writer in the Dark” throughout her Melodrama tour. Well, the secret is out. The clip has garnered so much online attention that it has inspired countless memes and a reaction from Lorde herself. If you’re wondering how the situation even began, here’s what to know about shushgate.
It’s unclear when the first videos began proliferating, but the attention picked up earlier this month when a Twitter user named @KULONSITE shared a compilation video of Lorde shushing fans throughout her Melodrama tour, which took place from September 2017 to November 2018. It’s worth noting @KULONSITE doesn’t appear to have created the video.
“Someone made a compilation of Lorde shushing her crowd,” they captioned their video alongside three crying face emojis. As of April 25, the video has 1.9 million views.
The clips in the video show Lorde performing a capella renditions of her emotional 2017 song “Writer in the Dark.” Whenever the crowd appeared to sing too loud, Lorde would raise her hands to let them know to keep it down. The videos went viral because of how iconic (and fittingly melodramatic) the scenes are of Lorde shushing fans in the middle of a concert, where, you know, you’re typically supposed to sing along.
Eventually, as is the case with most things that go viral, memes followed. Fans started sharing notable memes like the one of Sydney Sweeney hiding in that infamous Euphoria bathroom scene; however, others on Twitter passionately defended Lorde’s right to shush loud fans. After all, she created Melodrama, the epitome of a “main character” album.
The story grew so, well, loud that Lorde finally addressed the situation. The fan account @lordecontent claims in an Instagram post on April 23 that the singer sent them a front-facing video explaining why she hushed her fans.
In the video, Lorde wore a yellow eye mask (Solar Power vibes) and said she’d just woken up. “That was something that I did on that one song a couple of times when I wanted to sing it a capella and/or off the microphone so people could hear me,” she said in the video.
Lorde reassured fans that the shushing doesn’t typically happen at her concerts. “If you come to my shows, you know it’s an hour-and-a-half of all of us singing and screaming together,” she said. “Also, that dramatic-ass move was literally for an album called Melodrama, so don’t stress too hard.”
The Melodrama era is over, which means her shushing tendencies have also ended. Lorde is currently traveling around the world on her Solar Power tour. She performed “Writer in the Dark” for the first time since 2018 during her April 23 concert in Chicago.
A separate fan video from the concert that was shared on Twitter shows Lorde discussing shushgate. “I was like 19. You know, very dramatic. Lot of feelings,” she said in the clip. Lorde goes on to say she “had a weird moment” where she felt misunderstood by the internet’s reaction.
Of course, the New Zealander has moved past the stress of the situation. “I know what’s important, you know,” she said in the clip, before encouraging her fans to sing “Writer in the Dark” with her as loudly as they can.
Lorde may not be answering the call for the label or the radio (“The Path” stans, that reference is for you), but she is answering the call for more “Writer in the Dark.” So take being shushed by Lorde as a badge of honor. It’s a once-in-a-melodramatic-lifetime occurrence.
