Unlike most her age, Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O’Connor, known to most as Lorde, celebrated her seventeenth birthday by playing a headlining show as part of an international tour.
She is currently touring to support her debut album, “Pure Heroine,” which includes Billboard #1 hit and radio anthem, “Royals.” The bold dance-pop single also secured her the title of first New Zealand artist ever to top the US Billboard charts, and the youngest artist of any nationality to do so in 25 years.
But, Lorde insists on disassociating herself from any notions of pop prestige. In anthems like “Ribs” and “Team,” we find that Lorde has at least two things in common with many of us: she is broke, and she doesn’t like most songs she hears on the radio. Her disdain for the finer things marks every addictively sweet and synth-heavy track on the album, leaving us no room to assume that she’s anything but a rags-to-riches story.
Rags-to-rags, even; her stark criticisms of luxury, even when wistful, are so undeniably hip that we can’t help but question how we ever thought cash could buy cool. Yes, where Lady Gaga can no longer go on the charts by proclaiming a gospel of glamour, Lorde has ascended to by admitting she is disillusioned by what pop culture currently advocates.
The appeal of “Pure Heroine” is that it provides an answer for the great postmodern question of a generation raised during an economic depression: can money buy happiness? Lorde says, no. And by doing so, she sings the confessions of a youth culture defined by boredom on both sides of the economic divide.
Some might say her supercharged ascent to fame and riches begs the question. Like many rock stars before her, Lorde seems to be on her way to becoming a part of the same myth of pop culture glory that she has so sardonically debunked. But like many hipsters before her, the irony of it all will, no doubt, only serve to fuel her poetic, disenchanted, danceable flame.
About Katie Hayes
