She made it clear to Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking she has no intention of living in New Zealand again.
"Unless you're very mediocre you need to get out of there - you just have to if you want to keep succeeding otherwise it'll just crush your spirit."
Ms Dawson told Mike Hosking it will only get worse for Lorde.
"The people of New Zealand are proud ... the media are going to give her a very hard time and my advice is she's going to have to leave New Zealand."
Dawson left New Zealand in 2007, telling the Sunday News her reputation had been damaged by "nasty snipes" so badly that "I can't come back because people don't want to employ me".
Lorde slammed waiting New Zealand media for almost pushing over her family during her arrival at Auckland Airport yesterday, calling it "a bit of a sad welcome".
"nz media almost pushed over myself and my family at the airport this morning in order to get their shots. bit of a sad welcome if i'm honest," she wrote in her first tweet.
In an uncharacteristic subsequent flurry of tweets, since deleted, the pop star then went on to say she was frightened by the media attention and called the media scrum unacceptable.
She said she was under a "constant, often lecherous gaze" and said she no longer felt safe in her "tiny home country".
She tweeted: "i understand that people of note are supposedly fair game for everyone to photograph and film but that doesn't make it acceptable.
"i'm beginning to get used to my image as a public commodity, and the fact that I'm getting used to it frightens me.
"there is a difference between attn from fans, which i love, and the constant, often lecherous gaze that i'm subjected to in this industry.
"i know that success comes with a price tag. it just sucks when you see that in your tiny home country where you previously felt safe."