Antarctica inspires Lorde
Atrip to Antarctica has inspired Lorde to write her first book, Going South.
The singer, Ella YelichO’Connor, and her friend, Harriet Were, visited Antarctica at the start of 2019 on a trip with the Government agency Antarctica New Zealand.
When photos surfaced of her trip to the frozen content, in February 2019, it had been the first time the singer had made any public appearance since her Melodrama tour concluded in November 2018. Yelich-O’Connor had kept fairly quiet since then, as well, writing occasionally to fans via a newsletter but otherwise keeping a low profile in Auckland.
In a newsletter to fans this week, she explained what she had been doing in Antarctica last year.
She said she was eager to take Antarctica NZ up on its offer to show her around the continent, as she had a childhood fascination with Antarctica and was becoming increasingly conscious about climate and environmental science.
Since the trip, she had been working on a book using Were’s photography.
‘‘I thought it was only right to make them into a little cataloguestyle book, alongside a piece of writing I did about my experience on the frozen continent. It’s called Going South, and it’s a softcover book with over 100 pages of photos and writing,’’ she said.
The proceeds would go towards funding a scholarship for Antarctic research.
During her trip to Antarctica, Yelich-O’Connor visited the American laboratory Polar Trec, posed with US Air Force staff on the ice, and stayed at the New Zealandrun Scott Base. She also visited the US-run McMurdo Station.
Apost from the Polar Trec Lab said Lorde had been kept busy checking out microscopic Antarctic species.
‘‘She was super interested in our work. She took a look at the animals we are studying under the
microscope and was very excited with what she saw,’’ it said.
The book was available for preorder, but was not set to arrive until early next year.
Lorde said the trip was an inspiration for her third album, which she had worked on this year.
‘‘The book is a sort of perfect precursor to this album in an abstract way, and it’s a cool little piece of the Lorde cinematic universe for you to own if you’d like to,’’ she said.
Fans were expecting Lorde’s third album to come out next year as well.