Lorde’s new album, “Pure Heroine” is highly anticipated after the popularity of her EP “The Love Club.” Her new album builds upon the relaxed, summery mood of the EP. Her electro-pop voice is young – she is only 16-years-old – but the topics of her songs are not typical.
Lorde touches upon teenage love without it seeming like it’s a standard song. She is genuine and her songs are a far cry from the expected repetition of teen girl moping and crying over boys who don’t like them. Instead, she focuses on how some relationships can be destructive despite it being the only thing that doesn’t make them feel “hollow like the bottles that we drain” in “400 Lux.”
She also sings about the common teenage angst of feeling irrelevant to the rest of the world. She uniquely catches this emotion in “A World Alone” without glorifying it or making it seem trivial.
Expanding upon the idea of being small, she sings about being proud of your hometown, which is appropriate since she is from New Zealand. Despite the stigma of small towns being rundown or boring compared to the grand cities in America and across the world, she’d rather stand as a team with her town. Lorde may focus on the teenage feeling of being insignificant, but her anthem “Royals” picks up that feeling of being unimportant.
“Royals” boldly dismisses all other rap and pop songs, typically from artists much older that her, which essentially sing about incredibly grand parties with the most extravagant items that are deemed “cool.”
In her lyrics she takes on the voice of everyone except these artists who could only possibly mimic or relate to these outrageous events in their dreams. With that statement and a highly catchy beat the song became a small hit over the summer and brought in much deserved anticipation for her album.
With her clear voice, catchy electro beat and intelligent lyrics, it is pretty obvious why the album is named “Pure Heroine.” At 16-years-old, it is odd to see a singer so set apart from norm that isn’t super obscure or seemingly trying too hard to rebel. As she states in “Still Sane,” “I’m little but I’m coming for the crown” she is ready to spread her music across the world.
We’ll just have to wait and see how that turns out now that she is out of the studio and into the spotlight.
