Lorde joins Marlon Williams on his new song “Kāhore He Manu E”

The collaboration will feature on Williams’ first Māori language album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka.

Marlon Williams has recruited Lorde to appear on his new song “Kāhore He Manu E.” The single is the latest to be taken from Williams’ forthcoming album Te Whare Tīwekaweka, due April 4.
The album is Williams’ first with vocals recorded in ancestral language of Māori (Lorde also sings in Māori on “Kāhore He Manu E”). Scroll down to hear the song now.

“‘Kāhore He Manu E’ was one of those gentle labours” Williams said in a press statement. “It played itself out to me, easily and near complete from the first. It was also obvious who should be singing it; Ella [Lorde]’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. 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.’”

Lorde echoed that sentiment, adding: “Over the course of several years I watched Marlon pull at the threads that became Te Whare Tīwekaweka. I saw that the further he got into the album, the deeper my friend came to know himself, his whānau 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 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.”

In addition to the new album, Williams is also the subject of a documentary (Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds) about the making of the record made by director Ursula Grace Williams.

Williams and Lorde previously toured together and have performed together on stage, including in 2021 when they covered Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher Than the Rest” in Auckland.