It’s hard to believe that Lorde’s debut album was released four years ago. Aside from a very strong sentimental attachment that I have to it (it was basically the soundtrack to me falling for my husband) Pure Heroine is beautifully crafted album that reveals Lorde’s incredible maturity as a songwriter and musician. It’s still relevant in 2017, and as Lorde gives us a sneak peek of her pending album, I thought it’d be nice to dwell for a moment on what endeared her to us in the first place.
Royals was of course the most played track on the album, but you could basically argue any of the songs to be the most striking. It rose to fame rather quickly, with its minimal composition and thoughtful subject matter. In short, Royals was what we needed, a glimpse of authenticity in an oversaturated, glitzy industry. It’s elegantly packaged social commentary, sporting relatable imagery and poking fun at well-known lyrics that are less so.
The second song on the album, 400 Lux, is my personal favourite. It paints a simplistic outline of the mundane things that feel impossibly romantic when you’re with someone you really, really like.
“You drape your wrist over the steering wheel / Pulses can drive from here / We might be hollow but we’re brave”
I think what I like the most about this song is the way that it’s not trying to tell anything but the truth – it’s the magic of the everyday, the poetry of the little things we remember for no particular reason. I love that. More than the general relatability, 400 Lux details the specifics of the singer’s experience. While so many songs seem to contrive some sort of universal truth or experience, Lorde achieves that in 400 Lux by doing exactly the opposite – detailing her personal experience.
Ribs and Buzzcut Season are pretty great too – really spacious, atmospheric songs with pulsing electronic bass lines and Lorde’s signature gritty alto vocal. The electronic production on the album, as so many reviewers have discussed at length, is somewhere in the realm of completely flawless. Lorde’s vocal harmonies and textures weave in and out of each track in a way that doesn’t force you to pay attention, because, you know, beautiful things don’t ask for attention.
Million Dollar Bills, as seen on the extended version of the album, was actually the first song of Lorde’s that graced my ears. It’s a really fun, fast paced song that’s basically a modern acapella – layers of Lorde’s vocal are distorted and edited to create moments of interest and colour throughout the track. An MIA-inspired treble riff makes an appearance during the chorus, giving the song a modern feel. Big, strong percussive sounds and interesting electronic sounds add unique layers to the song, and the result is something quite unique. I might argue that this is the most underrated song on the album.
The Love Club is a great opportunity for Lorde to show us her vocal range – messing with our expectations by singing in the lower end of her range during the chorus and emphasising the treble in the verses. It’s really great to see this kind of vocal versatility. It’s also clear that Lorde, unlike so many others, works really closely with her producer in order to flesh out the vision she has for each song. Lyrically, musically, structurally, there’s something really unique here. Each song plays around with rhythms and sounds in order to create a really varied album that feels really satisfying to listen to.
Swingin’ Party was actually another song I heard early on in my exploration of Lorde’s music. “Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there’s party” is an opening lyric to rival so much of what’s on the market at the moment. It draws you in in the sense that you kind of want the singer to make sense of her opening statement, which she doesn’t really end up doing, but you’re glad you listened. Lorde’s vocal training has given her a maturity beyond her years. Her songwriting reveals an emotional maturity to match and her lyricism reveals an incredible creative talent.
Needless to say, Lorde’s debut album was a game changer. Countless analyses detail the millennial urge for something truly authentic, and the initiation of Lorde into the music industry is a really important landmark in fulfilling that need. In my own experience as a songwriter, Lorde’s music reminds me to simplify, to embrace the specific and to be unafraid to be unrelatable – because it’s often in an artist’s honesty that the listener is able to find common ground.
Lorde recently released a brand new single, Green Light, and it’s vastly different from anything we’ve heard from her before. While Yellow Flicker Beat, written for the Hunger Games, showed us a grittier Lorde, and Magnets, her collaboration with London Garage/House electronic duo, Disclosure, revealed something of a vocal range we were yet to experience, Green Light shows us a pop diva that’s pretty far removed from the minimalism of her debut album.
However, if there’s one thing to be said of Lorde, it’s that she’s unfailingly authentic, in her brand, in her music and in the way in which she connects with her listeners. For that reason, I think it’s safe to really trust in Lorde as an artist, and to look deeper than the initial arrestingly mainstream pop effect of her latest offering. I’m looking forward to seeing how she has chosen to contextualise the track in her pending album, and I’m quite sure that we won’t be disappointed.
