Singer Lorde on Tuesday said that authorities in New York City had to shut down a music video shoot she was working on due to crowd control concerns.

The 28-year-old artist from New Zealand was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this Tuesday to talk about her upcoming album, Virgin, set for release this Friday.

She shared a detailed account of the events leading to the abrupt cancellation of her video shoot for What Was That? at Washington Square Park in April, due to an overwhelming fan turnout.

Colbert noted that ‘such a mob showed up’ in the famed park in Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan ‘that the cops shut it down.’

‘The antiterrorism unit got involved and very seriously warned me that stepping onto the premises could lead to my arrest for inciting a riot,’ the Royals singer recounted on the CBS late-night show.

The vocalist, whose real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, explained that she ‘couldn’t show up for many hours’ as authorities sought to clear the area.

Singer Lorde, 28, said that authorities in New York City had to shut down a recent music video shoot she was working on due to crowd control concerns 

She explained in detail the series of events that led to the filming of her video for What Was That? in Washington Square Park being scuttled, as too many fans showed up 

The Tennis Court performer said she was later cleared to return to the park and conclude production on the clip – but she had to nail it in a single take.

‘I came back later, they said, “You can go out, you have one shot at it,”‘ Lorde explained. 

She continued, ‘If people don’t maybe know this, we were launching my first song for this album, but we were also shooting the music video, which would come out 24 hours later.

The two-time Grammy winner said that ‘there was an edit that had to be gotten to very quickly.’

The Man of the Year performer said that ‘a lot of dominoes had to fall right for this to work.’

The NYPD issued a statement to People explaining in detail the series of events surrounding the video shoot.

Fans flooded the Big Apple landmark as word spread that the Grammy-winning songstress was working on a new music video 

The New Zealand-born artist appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday to promote her upcoming album Virgin, which goes on sale Friday

Said the NYPD: ‘On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at approximately 18:47 hours in the vicinity of Washington Square Park, in the confines of the 6th Precinct, officers were alerted of an unscheduled event inside of the park.

‘A sound and parks permit is required to have a concert in a New York City Park. This individual did not possess either. 

They noted that ‘organizers of the event were informed they could not perform and they left the location.’