All About Lorde’s Ex-Boyfriend Justin Warren

Musical artist Lorde dated Justin Warren for a number of years but seemingly split in the second half of 2023. The couple was last seen in Sydney in March 2023 on a rare public outing at restaurant Surry Hills:

Lorde revisited their relationship in a May 2025 Rolling Stone interview. “I went through a breakup,” she said. “It was so painful, as they are, but there was real dignity to it and grace and a lot of respect. It continues to be a relationship that I cherish.”

The 28-year-old, whose real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, had been romantically linked to the 45-year-old music executive from 2016 to 2023. They were even rumored to be engaged at one point. Here’s everything we know about Warren and his history with Lorde.

Who is Justin Warren?

Warren works in the music industry as the American promotions director for Universal Music in New Zealand. The New Zealand Herald reports that Lorde and Warren first met when she was signed to Universal Music in 2009 when the artist was only 13 years old. They allegedly started dating six years later, attending the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards together in November 2015. After dating rumors started, Warren initially shut them down.

“Ella and I have worked together for years, and we’re good friends. Any rumors of us being ‘a pair’ are ridiculous,” he told The Herald then. “Ella has a really busy year ahead of her and we’ll be spending more time together as plans for the next Lorde record unfold.”

How serious were Lorde and Justin Warren?

They kept their relationship very quiet and never publicly confirmed their connection while they were dating. But in October 2021, Lorde was seen wearing a diamond ring on her finger at Variety’s Power of Women event in Los Angeles. This sparked engagement rumors.

They were often spotted around the world together, and he was also seen outside of the singer’s home.

Lorde has talked about her desire to remain private, saying in a 2021 interview with Vogue, “I’m great at my job, but I’m not sure I’m the man for the job. I’m a highly sensitive person. I’m not built for pop star life. To have a public-facing existence is something I find really intense and is something I’m not good at. That natural charisma is not what I have. I have the brain in the jar.”

She added, “For whatever reason people have allowed me to say, OK, I’m going to come and do the thing—do the shoot, do the red carpet, speak to the journalists, put the music out—and when I’ve done it to the point of total exhaustion, when I have completely quenched that thirst—I’m going to go home, and you’re not going to see me for two or three or four years.”

The couple split around September 2023.

In September 2023, Lorde wrote in her newsletter to fans that she was experiencing “heartbreak again,” which most people took to mean she and Warren has broken up.

“I’m living with heartbreak again,” she wrote. “It’s different but the same. I ache all the time, I forget why and then remember. I’m not trying to hide from the pain, I understand now that pain isn’t something to hide from, that there’s actually great beauty in moving with it. But sometimes I’m sick of being with myself.”

In May 2025, Lorde confirmed she and Warren broke up but remain on good terms.

Lorde spoke about her split from Warren in her Rolling Stone interview but noted they remain amicable. “I went through a breakup,” she said. “It was so painful, as they are, but there was real dignity to it and grace and a lot of respect. It continues to be a relationship that I cherish.”

Lorde relocated to London for five months during their separation and did a lot of self-reflection. “I had this feeling that I had never been alone,” she said. “There’d always been someone, not even necessarily a romantic partner. And often that was an older person. I was always choosing someone to be God.”

Starting her career so young contributed to this, she added: “It was a pattern I found myself repeating. I think because of leaving home so young and not quite being ready to be on my own. But I had this very acute sense that I needed to be alone to really meet myself.”