"Song of the year is here" — Internet reacts to Lorde previewing her new single ‘Man of the Year’ on Instagram live

New Zealand singer Lorde previewed her upcoming single, Man of the Year, in an Instagram Live session on May 27, 2025. The song, scheduled for release on May 28, is the second single from her new album, Virgin, which is expected to be released in June this year. She had previously released the lead single, What Was That, in April.

In her preview of Man of the Year, the singer is seen sitting in a room lit by dim blue lights. As the song builds, the lights start pulsing brighter, revealing a crowd forming around the singer.

Lorde's upcoming single has left her fans excited, with many dubbing the new track "Song of the Year."

"Song of the year is here."

Several netizens echoed this sentiment, calling Man of the Year a "banger."

"Man of the year is song of the year… MOTY SOTY," one person tweeted.

"This isn’t just a new era, it’s a whole mood shift, oh my god we’re so back and this banger is about to be the song of the year!" another person exclaimed.

"Yesss queen, can’t wait to vibe to this!" someone else commented.

"I can already see it in my top 10 spotify wrapped," another user posted.

However, some dubbed it a "snoozefest," while one user hoped it would be better than her previous single, What Was That.

"Hope it is better that What Was That?... The song was kinda disappointing tbh..." one person posted.

"Another boring a** song," another person added.

"We don’t care about her anymore," someone else commented.

"Sounds like a snoozefest," another user wrote.

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Lorde revealed the inspiration behind Man of the Year

Prior to the Man of the Year's release, Lorde unveiled the track's cover art, which featured the singer's body from the neck down, wearing a pair of jeans with her chest covered with duct tape.

During her cover story with Rolling Stone earlier this month, Lorde revealed her inspiration behind her upcoming single, adding that it stemmed from her thoughts about gender identity. The New Zealand singer revealed that she had an epiphany about her gender after she stopped taking birth control, saying:

“I felt like stopping taking my birth control, I had cut some sort of cord between myself and this regulated femininity. It sounds crazy, but I felt that all of a sudden, I was off the map of femininity. And I totally believed that that allowed things to open up.”

The singer also revealed that Man of the Year was her favorite track from her upcoming album, Virgin, adding that she had taped her chest with duct tape before writing the song, which inspired the track's cover art.

During the Rolling Stone interview, Lorde said her journey through her gender identity left her feeling "more like a man" some days. However, she clarified that she still uses she/her pronouns. She also elaborated on a conversation she had with fellow singer Chapelle Roan about her gender identity, saying:

“[Chappell Roan] asked me this … She was like, ‘So, are you nonbinary now?’ I was like, ‘I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.’ I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.”

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In other news, Lorde is gearing up for the release of her fourth LP, Virgin, on June 27, 2025, which comes nearly four years after her 2021 album Solar Power. During a recent BBC Radio 1 interview, she said Charli XCX's Brat motivated her to work on her upcoming album. She added that the Grammy-winning album "really gave [her] a kick."

For context, Lorde collaborated with Charli XCX on the remix version of Girl, so confusing from the remix album Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat.