10 reasons why you should listen to Lorde

Good evening my friends!

Have you ever wondered whether there is an artist that is young, amazingly talented, a fashion icon, not from the US or the UK and also, not so important but still true, really fucking pretty? This kind of artist can't exist, you may think. Well, you are tremendously mistaken! Because someone just like that does indeed walk upon this earth. Her name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich O'Connor a.k.a. Lorde and she is a (still) 20-year-old singer from New Zealand. You might be thinking now "Ohh, I know that chick! Isn't she the one with that Royal song or whatever it's called?". Let me tell you: she is that "Royal chick" but she is so much more than that. And no, she is not only famous for her appearance on South Park!!
Here are my 10 reasons why you should listen to Lorde!

from Lorde's Instagram story

 1. She is from New Zealand

Ella Yelich O'Connor was born on the 7th November 1996 in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand and was raised in Devonport (which is a suburb of Auckland, in the North of the North Island of New Zealand). That means you would be listening to a non-mainstream artist from a non-mainstream country! Who even knows where New Zealand is? Exactly, no one! Although you really should because it is quite an astonishing country but that is a different story. There aren't many famous singers from New Zealand except for maybe Brooke Fraser and Neil Finn but, oh wait, hold up, there is one: Lorde whose single "Royals" has sold 5.9 million copies in the US and over 10 million copies worldwide. So if you want to listen to quality made in New Zealand, then go ahead and listen to Lorde!

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devonport,_New_Zealand 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorde 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royals_(song)

2. Her accent

Ella's accent is the cutest thing you will ever listen to, I promise! Because, as you already know, she is from New Zealand (what, really?) and that's why she has that typical New Zealand pronunciation which makes her distinguishable from a lot of other artists. Just take a look at this short YouTube clip and you'll see why her accent is so amazing.

 

  3. She is not perfect

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Lorde has been in the music business since the tender age of 15 and when you are still a teen, then your skin and your body aren't perfect or at least not the way you want them to be but she always emphasised that you do not have to be perfect in order to be great! In fact, when a photo of her on stage in 2014 emerged where her face was edited to look more "flawless", she posted the original on Twitter comparing it to the edited one. 

She also talked to a Vogue reporter in 2014 stating: 

I think for me to look superhuman would be an insane amount of effort and I would just be so bored. Even trying to get a little bit presentable takes a lot of time. I was at high school up until very recently, and I’ve always had pretty bad acne, and I know what it’s like to be surrounded by real faces. Coming into the music industry where everyone is very beautiful, it’s easy to think that that is the norm, but it isn’t at all. I wanted to make it known to my peers, the girls I go to school with and young women who are listening to my music, that you can have flaws and things aren’t perfect all the time. Even the photography I’m drawn to—thinking about a Ryan McGinley photo, for example—the people are beautiful and natural-looking and you can see that sense of youth. That’s exciting to me, more so than a perfectly primed face.

Source: https://www.vogue.com/article/lorde-mac-makeup-collaboration-pure-heroine 

Here's another article on that: http://people.com/style/lorde-celebrates-her-flaws-on-instagram-posting-un-retouched-photo-that-shows-her-skin/

4. She is a fashion icon

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Lorde has never really adapted to a particular style and has always worn what she wanted to wear, whether it's on stage or out in the real world. "Trends" have never truly mattered to her, at least not in the traditional way and her independent style is unique in the world of music. Although she loves her Adidas Superstar Shoes but, who doesn't? You can see her here at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco wearing a black Goth gown like no one else does.

 

 

 

 

5. Her live show is amazing

I was lucky enough to go to one of the live shows of her current Melodrama tour here in Germany, more specifically in Munich, and it was absolutely awesome. The setting was beautiful and her outfits were truly amazing. She talked to the audience during her show which I personally have never experienced at a concert and danced like nobody was watching. She played a wide variety of her songs from Pure Heroine as well as Melodrama and was all in all an impressive performer despite her young age. Here is a recording of Homemade Dynamite I took at her show.

6. Lorde has Synesthesia

She has Synes-what? Here is a short explanation as to what Synesthesia actually is:

Synesthesia is a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight. Another form of synesthesia joins objects such as letters, shapes, numbers or people's names with a sensory perception such as smell, color or flavor.

Source: https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html

In Lorde's case, she connects music to colours which means that every note has a specific colour to her. I think that is pretty cool and also something that, well, not everyone can claim to possess. She tried to explain to Late Night show host Seth Meyers what Synesthesia really is to her.

7. Her face

It doesn't really matter that much but just look at her beautiful face. Just. Look. At. It. It's legendary. Do you really not want to be able to say that you are listening to the music of a girl with a face of an angel?? No, you don't. Her beauty is due to her Croatian and Irish descent, in case you were wondering.

from Lorde's Instagram

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8. Support young artists!

As already stated a few times, Ella is 20 years old, which means she is not even allowed to drink in the United States yet. Young artists like her have so many possibilities nowadays to be successful and yet it's hard for them to remain a star in the music industry, but we, as an audience or rather fans, can help them to stay thriving. We can invest in their music and buy their concert tickets and thus both parties will be happy!

Buy Melodrama here

Buy Pure Heroine here

Sources: 
http://www.nme.com/reviews/album/lorde-melodrama-album-review-nme
https://genius.com/albums/Lorde/Pure-heroine 

9. Great lyrics

Listening to Lorde's songs will simply give you a fantastic feeling - you can identify with so, so much of what she sings! Whether it's her song Ribs which is about the fear of growing old or Liability in which she comes to terms with her sadness about not being wanted enough. Her lyrics always have a meaning behind them and are never trivial - really, never!
Drew Fortune from Billboard even wrote an article about that which you'll find here.
Interesting fact that also hopefully gives further proof that Lorde is a lyrical genius: the first song on her second album Pure Heroine is "Tennis Court" which begins with the words 'Don't you think that it's boring, how people talk?' while the last song on the album "A World Alone" ends with the words 'Let em talk' and if that is not plainly genius then what is?
I've also got some of my favourite lyrics here from Hard Feelings/Loveless, Ribs and Liability (unfortunately I don't know the sources anymore because I saved those images from Pinterest, so if they belong to you, please contact me!).

I'll put some of my favourite songs (the lyrics are unreal in those) and one explanation of the lyrics of Green Light down below now so you can enjoy the magic, too :D Notice that Bravado is from 2013 which means that Ella was 16 at that time.

10. Lorde is unbelievably talented

She was discovered by Scott MacLachlan at the age of 12 and started writing songs when she was 13; Scott then 'paired' her with producer Joel Little who helped Lorde with the music to her text - she was 15 at that point of time. Her first album - The Love Club EP - came out in March 2013, this means that she was 16 when it dropped. 16. When I was 16, I was a normal student at high school with no idea what to do with my life - and now, two years later, at the age of 18, I still have no clue. Lorde, in the meantime, curated The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I soundtrack when she was 18. All of her songs are written by herself (and also Jack Antonoff, her 'work husband') and are of course also performed by herself - she even reinterpreted the song Everybody Wants To Rule The World, originally by Tears for Fears and it sounds incredible. Now, almost 21, she is on tour again with her Melodrama tour (she just finished the Europe leg) and she is not gonna stop anytime soon because, although she is still quite young, she has achieved a lot - and there is so much more to come.

Source

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Club_EP

So those were my 10 reasons why you've got to listen to Lorde. If you still think that you should not listen to her, then it really isn't my fault that you're missing out on greatness. 

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Maggie