Music
Before the world-conquering New Zealander plays Lollapalooza, let’s revisit our 2013 interview
Reposted from last year.
Lorde plays Lollapalooza on Friday, August 1. Live stream all the action here.
Ella Yelich-O'Connor, better known as Lorde, is hot property right now. At just 16 years old, the New Zealander, who replaced Frank Ocean as headliner of Splendour in the Grass 2013, has already performed alongside Kanye West and Kings of Leon and makes a heady pop brew that's part Lana Del Rey, part Burial, all beautiful.
We met her to find out what she thinks about the mad ride she's currently on.
When did you start developing your own taste in music? “I was probably 12 or 13 years old when I began to really discover music. One of the first bands I really liked was Animal Collective. At the time I listened exclusively to pop. Animal Collective make pop music, too, but in a way that sounded new to me, strange and different. Merriweather Post Pavilion was one of my first true favourite albums.”
Was music the first medium you used to express your feelings? “No, I used to write short stories. I started very, very early.”
When did you move from penning those to writing pop songs? “I've been singing since I was a young girl and one day I appeared in a talent show at school. Somehow this fell into the hands of Universal who contacted me and offered me a so-called ‘development deal’. I was 12 and thought: Why not? I didn’t have anything else planned, so I just started to write songs. It took a while, but eventually I realised I like writing songs even more.”
When you finally started making music who were your inspirations? “When I started making music, I saw myself primarily as a writer. The lyrics, and what I had to say, were most important to me. But I did have musical inspirations. At the time I’d just fallen in love with electronic music, artists like James Blake, Jai Paul and Burial.”
The album title is very confident, but you’ve described yourself as shy in interviews. Who’s the real Lorde? “I’m very reserved. On the EP, there’s a song called Bravado, which for me means having courage. I need some self-confidence to continue making music, giving interviews and performing. I don’t know, I think it’s good to have this artist's persona, someone I can live through but take a break from in my private life.”
So Lorde is not a fictional character? “No, it’s simply a more confident version of myself.”
You obviously approach songwriting with ambition and seriousness. “If I'm in the studio, I don’t just fool around. I'm a control freak and want my music to sound 100 per cent the way I want it to. I try to create art that means a lot to me, that expresses my emotions. Without seriousness, I’d never create anything I could be truly happy with."
But you’re not just making art for art's sake now – you're about to become a pop star. Are you okay with that? “I've always been fascinated by pop music. You can’t escape its directness – and the right song can make people all over the world so happy. But of course pop is sometimes a dirty word. So many songs sound stupid and embarrassing, but I think pop can work brilliantly with intelligent lyrics. And that’s what I want to do: create well-crafted pop music accessible to everyone. Songs you can dance to, but also listen to at home alone.”
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