Let's face it: It's easy to gorge ourselves on the glut of momentarily satisfying but ultimately nutrition-free singles by the mostly forgettable pop stars that are currently clogging the airwaves. But it's rare to discover an artist who actually makes us think or dare we say it feel. And it's even rarer when she's only 16-year-old. Then again, Ella Yelich-O'Connor, who adopted the moniker of Lorde. She was discovered when her now manager, Scott Maclachlan, saw a video of her performing at a Belmont Intermediate School talent show when she was 12.
Some new artists arrive with a buzz so loud it knocks you down. Occasionally that clamor can be a substitute for true talent, but that's not the case with Lorde. The New Zealand teenage sensation is terrifically skilled and totally poised to make a big dent on the pop landscape. In her lyrics you hear a wisdom deeper than her years and a writing sensibility that blends both philosophy and politics. Her rich vocals enhance all the ideas she's trying to convey, and as her massive debut hit "Royals" reveals, she delivers them with a cool-headed passion.
Musically, "Royals" is a minimal song that incorporates elements from different genres. The song is influenced by art pop, pop, grime, and blues. Lyrically, it expresses the protagonist's disdain for celebrities' lavish lifestyles and contains a vow that she will not become one of them. She wrote the lyrics to "Royals" at her house in only a half hour, and takes the minimalist theme of the song and applies it to two painfully normal men who are driving Cadillacs in their dreams. It has an addictive hook that thrives on its simplicity. The track reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first New Zealand solo artist to have a No.1 song in the US, and the youngest artist to hold the US No.1 in more than 25 years.
Directed by Joel Kefali, the video for the eminently catchy "Royals," which, in line with the subject of the song, depicts the beauty in the monotony of everyday teen life as it mostly consists of scenes centered around four normal teenage boys doing unexceptional mundane things in slow motion. Lots of lulls also fill the video, and Lorde herself doesn't even appear that much beyond an opening and closing image and one scene during the bridge with the exception of one extended frame of her singing and her voice sounds golden over a bare bass-and-snap R&B beat.
Some new artists arrive with a buzz so loud it knocks you down. Occasionally that clamor can be a substitute for true talent, but that's not the case with Lorde. The New Zealand teenage sensation is terrifically skilled and totally poised to make a big dent on the pop landscape. In her lyrics you hear a wisdom deeper than her years and a writing sensibility that blends both philosophy and politics. Her rich vocals enhance all the ideas she's trying to convey, and as her massive debut hit "Royals" reveals, she delivers them with a cool-headed passion.
Musically, "Royals" is a minimal song that incorporates elements from different genres. The song is influenced by art pop, pop, grime, and blues. Lyrically, it expresses the protagonist's disdain for celebrities' lavish lifestyles and contains a vow that she will not become one of them. She wrote the lyrics to "Royals" at her house in only a half hour, and takes the minimalist theme of the song and applies it to two painfully normal men who are driving Cadillacs in their dreams. It has an addictive hook that thrives on its simplicity. The track reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first New Zealand solo artist to have a No.1 song in the US, and the youngest artist to hold the US No.1 in more than 25 years.
Directed by Joel Kefali, the video for the eminently catchy "Royals," which, in line with the subject of the song, depicts the beauty in the monotony of everyday teen life as it mostly consists of scenes centered around four normal teenage boys doing unexceptional mundane things in slow motion. Lots of lulls also fill the video, and Lorde herself doesn't even appear that much beyond an opening and closing image and one scene during the bridge with the exception of one extended frame of her singing and her voice sounds golden over a bare bass-and-snap R&B beat.
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