why the world loves lorde

I’m a music hipster. I’ve tried denying it. I’ve tried arguing that such social distinctions are arbitrary and meaningless. I’ve even tried ironically appropriating the label for comedic effect, but I’m afraid that just made matters worse. Having admitted this, I have honestly strived over the years to shed my instinctual tendencies to judge others according to their taste in music; to open myself up to a variety genres and styles I previously scorned (hip-hop, eugh!, country, yuck!, pop, you have to be kidding!); and to not resent the popularity of acts upon whose bandwagon I was too slow to jump. On this last point, I’ve made a little progress and I now feel comfortable saying that I missed the boat completely when it comes to New Zealand’s latest sensation, Lorde.

Given the absurd number of views her videos have been clocking online, and her current command of the #1 chart position in Britain and the United States, it’s probably safe to say a lot of you know a lot more about this sixteen year-old star than I do. For the rest of you, just know she is brilliant.

Ella Yelich-O’Connor, as her family knows her, grew up in Auckland and was signed to Universal Records at the age of just 13.

Despite being signed three years ago, Lorde’s first physical release, the Love Club EP, seemed to drop from the sky when it appeared earlier this year. The unbelievably contagious lead single, Royals, which was subsequntly included on her debut full-length, Pure Heroine, has since rocketed to the top of the US charts, beating Alanis Morisette’s record for most weeks by a female artist at #1 on the alternative rankings, and sitting comfortably atop the Billboard Hot 100.

The confidence of Lorde’s voice on the track, underscored by its minimalist, clicky beat and simple keys, belies her age. On her second single Tennis Court, and in fact throughout her album, Lorde seems to effortlessly exude the world-weary, Hollywood golden-era cool that Lana Del Rey often tried so desperately to affect. And like Del Rey, the influences of hip-hop and R&B-tinged electro à la The Weeknd (who recently remixed Royals) or SBTRKT, on Lorde’s music are clear. As well as being melodically strong, her vocals are often delivered with a keen sense of rhythm that melds seamlessly with the instrumentation, making for a heady, hypnotic, mix.

Her flirtations with hip-hop seem to only extend as far as the music, however, with Lorde’s lyrics making clear she has some issues with parts of the genre’s secondary aspects. In fact, Royals is a wholesale denouncement of the flashy, unattainable, and ultimately hollow lifestyle championed by many artists. Lorde’s sick of hearing about ‘Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece’, and on Team, she makes no bones about the fact that she doesn’t want to be ‘told to throw (her) hands up in the air / So there’.

She also seems happy to have her say outside of music, recently ruffling feathers after taking public issue with the portrayal of women in Selena Gomez’s song Come and Get It. After catching flack from fans of Gomez (who has been performing her own version of Royals at recent concerts), Lorde stood by her statements, saying that as a feminist she disagrees with the theme of the song and is sick of women being portrayed in that way.

At the moment, Lorde seems to have the world at her feet and her head screwed on straight, and with a debut album as solid as hers, I can’t wait for more.

 

[Image Credit]