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Two of the most prominent names in New Zealand music have joined forces, with Lorde appearing on “Kāhore He Manu E”, the latest single from Marlon Williams’ first Māori language album.

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Set for release on April 4, Williams’ forthcoming album – Te Whare Tīwekaweka – was first announced in January as the follow-up to 2022’s My Boy, his second-consecutive chart-topper in his native country. Most notably, it’s also his first album recorded in te reo Māori. In addition to being the language of New Zealand’s indigenous population, it’s also Williams’ ancestral tongue, and one which he spent much of the past five years developing.

According to Williams, the motivation behind the album came via the Māori whakatauki (proverb) “Ko te reo Māori, he matapihi ki Te Ao Māori,” which translates to English as “The Māori language is a window to the Māori world.”

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“Through the process of constructing these songs, I’ve found a means of expressing my joys, sorrows and humour in a way that feels both distinctly new, yet also connects me to my tīpuna (ancestors) and my whenua (land, home),” Williams explained.

Previewing the album with first single “Aua Atu Rā,” Williams has now unveiled a collaboration with New Zealand pop superstar Lorde (also known as Ella Yelich-O’Connor).

The track, titled “Kāhore He Manu E,” also comes paired with a music video which captures the pair working together in the studio. The clip itself is taken from the larger forthcoming documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds, directed by Ursula Grace Williams about the making of the record.

“‘Kāhore He Manu E’ was one of those gentle labours. It played itself out to me, easily and near complete from the first,” Williams said of the collaboration. “It was also obvious who should be singing it; Ella’s voice in a very real sense wrote the song. The distinct and striking characteristics in her voice cornering and demanding of the melody and phrasing what only her voice could. 

“Singing with Ella is incredible; the amount of mind she’s able to pour into the vessel,” he added. “We got to know each other through sharing the highs and lows of touring life, and in a real sense this song is an ode to the colourful but grim wormhole of road life, to the friends made and lost in the folds of time, ‘visions lost in the blur.’”

“Over the course of several years I watched Marlon pull at the threads that became Te Whare Tīwekaweka,” added Lorde. “I saw that the further he got into the album, the deeper my friend came to know himself, his whānau (family) and his world at large. Marlon is an undercover perfectionist, and he was never going to embark on this journey without turning over every stone, crafting complex waiata (songs) that speak to the past while also braiding in his characteristic humour and X-ray vision. 

“Singing with Marlon is one of my favourite things to do on earth, whether we are tipsy backstage by a pool table or in a luscious studio, and I was honoured he asked me to sing with him on this album. I’m so proud of my friend.”

Williams first found fame as a teenage musician in New Zealand before moving to Melbourne, Australia in 2013 and launching a solo career. His self-titled debut was issued in 2015 and resulted in widespread acclaim, including an appearance on U.S. television the following year when he was invited to perform on Conan with his band the Yarra Benders. 

Williams has also dabbled in acting alongside his musician career, arguably becoming best known to U.S. audiences when he appeared in Bradley Cooper’s 2018 A Star is Born as himself, and as Johnny Abbot in the Netflix series Sweet Tooth.

The new single isn’t the first time that Williams and Lorde have collaborated together, either. In 2019, the pair performed at a benefit concert for victims of the Christchurch terror attack, sharing an arresting duet of Simon & Garfunkel’s classic No. 1 hit “The Sound of Silence.” In 2021, Lorde appeared at Williams’ Auckland concert to guest on a cover of Bruce Springsteen‘s “Tougher Than the Rest,” lifted from his 1987 LP Tunnel of Love.

Months after their tribute to The Boss, Lorde herself dabbled with the Māori language when she shared Te Ao Mārama – a five-track companion EP to Solar Power, sung entirely in te reo Māori.