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MUSIC FEATURE

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LORDE PURE HEROINE This month we’re driving Cadillacs through our dreams and all the way back to 2013, when a young singer-songwriter fromTakapuna, NZ found herself living that fantasy... This month Lorde is heading to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth to support her album of last year, Solar Power – head online to get your tix! Words Bryget Chrisfield

Discovering royalty After Universal Music A&R rep Scott Maclachlan (of the NZ pop-punk group Goodnight Nurse and later Lorde’s manager) ‘discovered’ Lorde – via a video of her performing at a Belmont Intermediate School talent show when she was just 12 – she signed a development deal with the label. Lyrical majesty During an interview, Lorde revealed, “I think one of the first lines I wrote from [ Royals ], ‘We’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams,’ was in a diary that I had when I was, like, 11 or 12 – so young.” Her collaborator Joel Little, who was brought in to help find music and melodies to complement Lorde’s words,

It’s been a decade since Lorde, real name EllaYelich-O’Connor, royally exploded onto the music scene as a teen. She was once a member of Taylor’s ‘Swift Squad’ and we’re positive this multi-Grammy-winning pop artist would’ve been able to dine out on the Royal -ties (hee-hee) from her hit single – which appeared on her debut EP The Love Club . and album, Pure Heroine (both released in 2013) – for quite some time. On Pure Heroine , which sold upwards of five million copies worldwide, Lorde captured a vivid snapshot of coming-of-age anxiety, disillusion and angst – and many believe Lorde opened the door for artists such as Billie Eilish to strut their way through in the late 2010s.

Year 2013

Taking inspiration from Lana Royals , written with Little while Lorde was on school holidays, is a takedown of the opulent lifestyle hip-hop artists tend to brag rap about. But Lorde also drew inspiration from Lana Del Rey for her signature song, detailing during an interview:

“Lana Del Rey is always singing about being in the Hamptons or driving her Bugatti Veyron or whatever and, at the time, me and my friends were at some house party worrying how to get home because we couldn’t afford a cab. This is our reality! [laughs]. If I write songs about anything else then I’m not writing anything that’s real.”

recalled during a separate interview: “It was actually her lyrics that got me first. She brought in the lyrics and I thought, ‘These are ridiculous, how can you be thinking of things like this?’ And then I heard her sing, I was like, ‘Yusssss!’ I knew it was gonna work…You want the music to accentuate the lyric and the voice, rather than take away from it.” Lorde has said Little is a master collaborator because “he doesn’t want to put his huge big signature on the music.”

FUN FACT Lorde curated The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1 original motion picture soundtrack (2014), which also featured her track Yellow Flicker Beat .

Weird parody You know you’ve made it when Weird Al Yankovic immortalises your tune with one of his trademark parodies; in this instance it was Foil , from his 2014 collection Mandatory Fun . Yankovic’s song is about getting a doggy bag from the restaurant and then trying to keep the food fresh after you get home. The chorus goes: “With aluminium foil (Foil)/ Never settle for less/ That kind of wrap is just the best/ To keep your sandwich nice and fresh...” – weird, alright!

“The future of music,” says Bowie When asked how Lorde came to be selected to perform Life on Mars with Bowie’s backing band, as part of a BRIT Awards tribute to the Starman, Mike Garson (Bowie’s long-time pianist) explained during a Periscope Q&A: “She was the perfect choice,” before adding, “David really liked Lorde, and he felt like she was the future of music, and they had a few wonderful moments together.” Post performance, Bowie’s son Duncan Jones tweeted his approval.

Lorde in the clip for her breakout single Royals (2013)

Continue reading the full article online at stack.com.au

18 MARCH 2023

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