No longer the best kept secret, the world has wised up to
the talents of
Lorde in a whirlwind six months that would have significantly
turned the head of most, but not Ella Yelich-O’Connor, Lorde's birth name. As much as the plaudits
and achievements are piling up - #1 album and single in her native New Zealand,
the first female artist to top the Billboard Alternative Chart in 17 years,
taking Frank Ocean’s slot last minute at Australia’s Splendour In the Grass
festival and killing it etc etc - you wouldn’t know it from the girl herself.
With Royals, Tennis Court and The Love Club EP about to be backed up by her debut
album Pure Heroine, listeners will finally get their first chance to fully
immerse themselves in the extended work of an artist who has already managed to
nail the ebullience, ennnui and constantly confounding nature of modern life in
a way it seems almost everyone can relate to. Spurning the stereotypes of
pouting pop princesses and vacuous marketing-sponge teens, Lorde turns a mirror
to the monotony and the magnificence that surrounds her, articulating it with
razor sharp intensity and some right regal rhetorical behaviour. Given a chance
to develop her craft and find her feet, after being signed up by Universal
three years ago, the musical stars aligned for her when she linked up with
producer and co-writer Joel Little, who was able to assist in getting the songs
out of her head and into the irrepressible earworms they have become.
Slipped
out with zero fanfare and accompanied only by a simple illustration, The Love
Club EP was released free to Soundcloud where it took on a life of its own,
reaching out all over the globe and rapidly attracting interest from major
industry players, and more importantly legions of folk simply struck and
enchanted by a fresh voice in often stale times. Royals cemented the deal,
spreading like a benevolent virus with its pin¬point musings on materialism,
bling, brand worship, commercial fetishisation and all that 2013 stuff. A
voracious music listener, Ella’s songs reflect an upbringing of quality soul,
rock, folk and pop combined with the adventure and sonic wonderment of
contemporary inspirations like James Blake, Burial, SBTRKT and Drake. However,
when it all comes together, with her distinc¬tive multi-layered vocal
arrangements and exacting sound design in the studio with Joel, it becomes a
vivid, hyperreal magical thing that is considerably more than the sum of its
parts.
No longer the best kept secret, the world has wised up to
the talents of Lorde in a whirlwind six months that would have significantly
turned the head of most, but not Ella Yelich-O’Connor, Lorde's birth name. As much as the plaudits
and achievements are piling up - #1 album and single in her native New Zealand,
the first female artist to top the Billboard Alternative Chart in 17 years,
taking Frank Ocean’s slot last minute at Australia’s Splendour In the Grass
festival and killing it etc etc - you wouldn’t know it from the girl herself.
With Royals, Tennis Court and The Love Club EP about to be backed up by her debut
album Pure Heroine, listeners will finally get their first chance to fully
immerse themselves in the extended work of an artist who has already managed to
nail the ebullience, ennnui and constantly confounding nature of modern life in
a way it seems almost everyone can relate to. Spurning the stereotypes of
pouting pop princesses and vacuous marketing-sponge teens, Lorde turns a mirror
to the monotony and the magnificence that surrounds her, articulating it with
razor sharp intensity and some right regal rhetorical behaviour. Given a chance
to develop her craft and find her feet, after being signed up by Universal
three years ago, the musical stars aligned for her when she linked up with
producer and co-writer Joel Little, who was able to assist in getting the songs
out of her head and into the irrepressible earworms they have become.
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