Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of my time consuming new art. I remembered how to fall in love with movies, literature, and music again, all while taking my own time in the process. As time went on, I found myself dissecting frames in film, analysing the lyricism in new music, and writing down my thoughts. I spent a good chunk of time doing this, before realizing why I had loved it so much before; It’s therapeutic, it makes me feel organized. Over the course of this break, I found my catharsis. I rediscovered my passion for art, and I feel motivated beyond memory to focus my efforts on my pursuit of artistic literacy. All I needed to do was find my next article - so I delved into my music catalog. The more I digested music in hopes of finding inspiration for this article, it felt more inevitable that I would need to talk about Lorde.
Over the course of this article, I will be focusing on Lorde’s early career, starting at The Love Club, and wrapping up after the release of her debut album, Pure Heroine. Let’s keep the intro brief, shall we?
Lorde, born Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, was always destined for something more. Having tested into a gifted program at the age of six, Lorde found her love for music soon after. She began performing live covers with her friend, Louis McDonald, at bars and small venues, until her father sent in a recording to Universal Music Group (UMG), to which she was promptly signed. From there, Lorde met her eventual producer (for many of her projects), Joel Little, and, according to both parties, they gelled instantly. Within their first few studio sessions, they were said to have recorded an EP.
On November 22, 2012, Lorde released her debut EP, The Love Club. Although it’s rather irrelevant for my analysis, it’s important to discuss the impact of the lead single “Royals.” At the time, “Royals” was the antithesis to everything that dominated mainstream pop radio. Explosive drums, Harsh 808s, satirical commentary- it was all new for 2010’s pop. Most of what was available (no disrespect, 2010s pop bangs) was very bubble-gum and shallow lyrically. This was different. The track reflects on a culture of flamboyant materialism and validation gained through the promotion of excess. Lorde plays off a motif everpresent in music, and hollywood in general, where approval is sought through an image. It’s a trend everyone recognizes, celebrities show off their luxurious lifestyle: fast cars, gold chains, expensive alcohol, the list goes on and on. The point made is that, for someone like Lorde, this behavior is ethereal - like no other person actually thinks like this. This plants the seeds for themes explored on her debut album, where Lorde offers the niche perspective of an adolescent from New Zealand who’s forced into an amerocentric pop-culture. This was all confusing to her, as it showcases a life so foreign to her own. Prior to her exposure, she could not even imagine relating to this life of high culture.
Given this context, her next single, “Tennis Court,” finds Lorde at a transitional phase of her life, grappling with her newfound fame. Admittedly, this concept is neither new, nor unique. However, Lorde focuses on the aspect of voyeurism. The song begins with a declaration, “Don’t you think it’s boring how people talk? / Making smart with their words / again, well I’m bored.” Critiquing the shallow culture of Hollywood and the music industry, Lorde is immediately resistant to this lifestyle, after being in the spotlight for less than a year. This first verse is predominantly written from the perspective of an adolescent observing fame from the outside. Lorde finds herself displeased with artists when they maintain a persona to appease their fans, finding it “boring” and predictable. Then the second verse follows with an admission that fame scares her. Now that she is in the position to be critiqued, she finds herself diving headfirst into this culture she’s so adamantly against, citing “ Pretty soon, I’ll be getting on my first plane… / How can I fuck with the fun again / when I’m known?” She knows this new lifestyle is encapsulating, using the plane as a metaphor for her entry into this lifestyle. She finds herself anxious of what’s to come, worried that she won’t embrace this new world. As such, voyeurism is at the core of her worries. Lorde knows she has expectations within this world, and everybody is always watching. With this in mind, she makes the decision to use this platform to do what she pleases - in this scenario - to be the “beauty queen.” Using this as a form of rebellion, Lorde has no interest in engaging with the culture, she would rather use it as a stepping stone for her own aspirations. She makes use of an allusion to recall Marie Antoinette’s rejection of royalty, and instead using the platform to be the beauty queen of the day. She does not wish to partake in the manufactured nature of Hollywood relationships and the parasocial relationship between artists and their fans, where the artists need to constantly entertain and impress their audience. The next line further elaborates on this, “it’s a new art form showing people how little we care.” A self-explanatory line, sure, but it serves to highlight her rejection for the celebrity standard, where you have to play by the rules of this world. Within her world, she’s the beauty queen, and she can do whatever she wants. This comes with a level of self-awareness though, as Lorde knows she’s human, and she knows a slip up is inevitable. And when it does happen, she knows that she’s in the spotlight for everyone to see. “Getting caught’s half the trip though, isn’t it?”
Her next single was called “Team”. The track was her last single prior to the album’s release, and it’s based off a dream she had,
“Teenagers rule their own world… with hierarchies and initiations, where the boy who was second in command had acne on his face, and so did the girl who was queen. I dreamt about this world being so different to anything anyone had ever seen, a dark world full of tropical plants and ruins and sweat. and of this world, I dreamt about tests that didn’t need to be passed in order to be allowed in: sometimes the person who loses is stronger.”
This continues off of the idea of finding solace in being imperfect, the entire reason why she wants to be the “beauty queen in tears,” so that she could forge her own name in this world of perfectionism. This is her world where imperfection is perfection and where perfection does not exist. The first verse describes the residents of the town, and all of their perceived flaws, but with a veneer of royalty. “A hundred Jewels between teeth,” while this sounds lavish, it is apparent Lorde is talking about braces. The track finds footing in describing Lorde’s fantasy world, but she is aware that this is not “perfection” in the world she lives in. The chorus, “we live in cities / you’ll never see on a screen / not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things” is evidently Lorde’s response to knowing that this city is undesirable to the mainstream. Of course, The question arises, if it doesn’t appeal to the mainstream, who is this for? Lorde is sixteen at the time of writing and releasing this album - this is a place for adolescents to find comfort. As is common throughout the record, Lorde uses pronouns like we and us to envision a larger whole of her peers. This allows for the audience to feel included if they find themselves relating to Lorde. On a larger scale, this entire album speaks on adolescence and the resistance of entering this world full of everything Lorde finds herself against.
Then, came the album. Pure Heroine was released in September of 2013, to critical acclaim. While most of what needed to be analyzed was discussed in the previous paragraphs, there’s one last thing that needs to be covered. Frequently, throughout the album, Lorde discusses being a teenager, and the perspective it brings to her music and to her mindset. However, Lorde is sixteen at the time of recording, and she knows this adolescence is waning. With this in mind, I want to discuss “Ribs” and “Buzzcut Season”. Two of the most popular records off of the album, these tracks encapsulate Lorde’s fear of growing old and walking away from her adolescence.
I wrote [“Ribs”] on a Monday in February, last year. And I wrote it following this weekend where my and my sister and our best friend threw this huge house party at my place… And at the end, everyone just crashed at my house, on the floor of every room. And there was one guy who came around after lights out… and he crashed with me and my best friend in my bed. And I couldn’t sleep. And he’s like ‘What is it?’ and I was like ‘What we just did is cool. It’s cool. You know, doing this thing, throwing this house party, it’s adult. And there’s something scary about doing something that is in a different world than the one you know. My whole life I’ve been doing the things that kids do, you know, fucking around and not having any responsibility. It’s scared me to think of having one foot in that adult world because who says that we can go back? Like, can you be a kid and still do adult things? Do you have to leave that world behind?
With context in mind, Lorde spends the duration of the track worried about her future, involving her unprecedented career. In the chorus, she mentions feeling the most alone that she has ever been, because she now his this pressure and responsibility of being a celebrity, whether she wants to or not. This house party, which in broader terms represents her adolescence, will not last forever. Once everyone leaves, she will not be able to do this again, she has to grow up. Furthered by the following pre-chorus, “We can talk it so good / we can make it so divine… / how you wish it would be all the time”. At its core, it states that whatever she has going on right now, this ‘party’ won’t last forever. Everyone is allowed to be who they want to be in the midst of the night, but the morning always follows. It does not matter how ‘divine’ they talk it, nothing is permanent, adulthood is inevitable, no matter what they do.
“Buzzcut” finds remedy in the dream world Lorde has created for herself. A thematic continuation of “Ribs”, the track begins to show the cracks in Lorde’s dream world, following the revelation of the inevitability of adulthood discussed in “Ribs”. The title is derived from a tradition Lorde shared with friends as a child, where they would give each other buzzcuts at the beginning of summer. From there, the lyrics read as a denial of the outside world. “Explosions on TV / And all the girls with heads inside a dream / So now we live beside the pool / Where everything is good.” It becomes evident that Lorde is becoming increasingly aware of the issues that exist outside of her bubble, but she chooses to remain isolated, in fear of everything she learns. By the time the listener reaches the chorus (which is at the end of the song), Lorde seems desperate to stay in this bubble, “and I’ll never go home again… / favorite friend, and nothing’s wrong where nothing’s true” refusing to accept the reality that lies outside of her fantasy world.
By the end of the record, Lorde never really finds true closure with the reality she needs to face. The final track “A World Alone” displays Lorde’s realization that she is okay in her own fantasy world, even if she stays alone. She finds comfort knowing that, even though her current relationship will inevitably end, she would be okay because she knows her world is safer than the outside filled with hate, judgement, and prejudice, which she takes no desire in. Ultimately, the tone of the album’s conclusion is ambiguous, and it seems intentional. Lorde knows this isn’t the traditional ‘happy-ending’ but it is her ending. She found paradise within herself, and she doesn’t care what we think.