Lorde reveals her next album will be delayed after the death of her dog Pearl

Back in June, the New Zealand singer/songwriter revealed that her follow up to 2017's Melodrama record was "in the oven".

In a new note to fans, Lorde wrote, "Pearl came into my life in 2018, and almost immediately changed everything for me."

She expanded on their close relationship, "We spent almost all our time alone together, him asleep under the piano as I played, or on the porch together, or in the park, where he became a blurry speck of gold in the green, far away."

Lorde goes on to explain that Pearl has suffered from multiple illnesses throughout his life, and had been working with the vets to try and find a solution, "Everything was looking good. But one day we woke up and I knew, in that way mothers do, that he was sicker than we had realised, and that we were nearing a point where his body wasn’t going to be able to cope. I rushed him to the specialists. Pearl had two cardiac arrests about an hour apart, and after the second one, he died. I was holding him when he went, and I know he knew that I was there."

Explaining the impact of Pearl's death, Lorde added, "A light that was turned on for me has gone out. The bright energy I was trying to communicate to you has gone, for now. He was instrumental to the discovery that was taking place. I felt he led me towards the ideas. And it’s going to take some time and recalibration, now that there’s no shepherd ahead of me, to see what the work is going to be."

She went on to ask for fans' patience on her third album, "So I’m asking for your patience, as 2020 comes around and you start to wonder where the next record is. I have lost my boy, and I need some time to see the good again, to finish making this for you. It won’t be the same work - as anyone who has felt loss can understand, there’s a door that opens that you step through, and everything is different on the other side. But when this great loss crystallises inside me, and my chest rebuilds around it, hopefully I’ll be able to finish up, and share it with you, and we’ll all grow together, as we always do."