Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, known by her stage name Lorde, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter.
Born in Takapuna and raised in Devonport, Auckland, she became interested in performing
as a child. At age 13 she signed with Universal Music Group and was later paired with songwriter
and record producer Joel Little. Her debut work The Love Club EP was commercially released
in March 2013 and included the song "Royals", which became an international crossover hit
and won two Grammy Awards. Her first studio album, Pure Heroine, was released in September
2013 to generally positive reviews and commercial success.
Life and career Early life
Yelich-O'Connor was born on 7 November 1996 in Takapuna. She was born to poet Sonja Yelich
and civil engineer Vic O'Connor. She was raised in the nearby suburb of Devonport with two
sisters and a brother. She is of Croatian and Irish ancestry. At age 5, Lorde followed
her friend into a drama group and discovered a love of singing and acting. Lorde's mother,
a poet, encouraged her to read books. Lorde attended Belmont Intermediate School,
where in 2009 she and friend Louis McDonald won the school's talent show. After seeing
her performance at the talent show, McDonald's father sent out recordings of Lorde covering
Duffy's song "Warwick Avenue" and Pixie Lott's "Mama Do" to various talent scouts. When Lorde
was 13, A&R scout Scott Maclachlan signed her to Universal Music Group for development.
UMG hired vocal coach Frances Dickinson to give her singing lessons twice a week for
a year and she began working with a succession of songwriters but without success. Maclachlan
told HitQuarters: "Fundamentally I think she understood that she was going to write her
own music but would ultimately need someone to help with the production side of it."
2011–13: The Love Club EP and Pure Heroine
In December 2011, MacLachlan paired Lorde with Joel Little, a songwriter, record producer
and former Goodnight Nurse lead singer. The pair recorded five songs for an EP at Little's
Golden Age Studios in Morningside, Auckland and finished within three weeks. In an interview
with New Zealand Listener, Lorde explained the EP, "It was basically all me, that stuff.
I've always been frustrated with that misalignment, because with a pop star you know everything
about them all the time [...] Whereas you get someone like Burial – you don’t know
what he looks like, but it’s awesome his music can be such a big thing but it’s only
the music... and it frustrates me that those two can’t mesh at all. It was more like
‘I don’t really want to do a photo shoot yet’, and then everyone made a big deal
of it". Lorde chose her stage name because she was fascinated with "royals and aristocracy",
but feeling that the name Lord was too masculine, she added an 'e' to make it more feminine.
In November 2012, Lorde self-released The Love Club EP through her SoundCloud account
for free download. After being freely downloaded 60,000 times, UMG decided to commercially
release the EP for sales. On 8 March 2013, The Love Club EP was released digitally in
Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The release peaked at number two in New Zealand
and Australia. It was eventually certified septuple platinum in Australia and platinum
in New Zealand. On 7 June 2013, Lorde released her second EP, Tennis Court EP, comprising
of four songs. On 27 September 2013, Lorde released her debut
studio album, Pure Heroine. The album peaked atop the charts of New Zealand and Australia
and reached the top five of charts in Canada, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom. In
the United States, Pure Heroine peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and was
certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold 1.33 million
copies. "Royals" was released as a single from the
EP on 3 June 2013. In August 2013, with "Royals" became the first song by a female lead artist
in 17 years to top the US Alternative Songs chart since Tracy Bonham's "Mother Mother"
in 1996. The song became a crossover hit and topped the US Hot 100 chart in October 2013.
With "Royals", Lorde became the youngest artist in over twenty-five years, and the first solo
artist ever from New Zealand, to top the US Hot 100. It also topped the UK Singles Chart
and the Canadian Hot 100. "Royals" was critically well-received, as it won the 2013 APRA Silver
Scroll Award, a New Zealand songwriting award, and the Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance
and Song of the Year at the 2014 ceremony. Lorde became the third youngest winner in
Grammy history and the youngest winner from New Zealand. She also became the youngest
person to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
"Tennis Court" was released as her second single and reached number one on the New Zealand
Singles Chart. Third single "Team" reached the top ten of singles charts in New Zealand,
Australia, Canada and the US. Lorde's debut studio album, Pure Heroine, was released on
27 September 2013 and includes "Royals", "Tennis Court" and "Team". It was well received by
music critics, was nominated for a Grammy, and sold 1.5 million copies by the end of
2013. Her cover of Tears for Fears' single "Everybody
Wants to Rule the World" was included on the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire film soundtrack.
In November 2013, Lorde signed a publishing deal with Songs Music Publishing worth a reported
$2.5 million after a bidding war between various companies including Sony and her label Universal.
The agreement gives the publisher the right to license Lorde's music for films and advertising.
2014–present: Second studio album In the first half of 2014, Lorde headlined
various festivals, including Laneway, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. In April 2014, Lorde performed
"All Apologies" with the surviving members of Nirvana during the band's induction ceremony
at the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. In December 2013, Lorde announced that she
had began writing material for her second studio album. In June 2014, Lorde revealed
that her second studio album would be "totally different" from her debut album, continuing
to reveal her writing style had changed and that she is working on new music and "it's
definitely still at the beginning." Artistry
Influences Lorde grew up listening to soul musicians
Etta James and Otis Redding, as well as her parents' favourite records by the likes of
Cat Stevens, Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac. She cites the unusual vocals of Grimes, band
Sleigh Bells and producer SBTRKT as her prominent influences. Musically, Lorde is inspired by
Lana Del Rey, James Blake, Yeasayer, Animal Collective, Kanye West and Prince. She cites
rapper J. Cole and electronic producers as influences, which she praises for the use
of using "their vocals in a really interesting way, whether it might be chopping up a vocal
part or really lash or lairing a vocal." Lorde also stated that she was inspired by
the initially hidden identities of Burial and The Weeknd, explaining, "I feel like mystery
is more interesting". Lorde describes short story writers Raymond Carver, Wells Tower,
Tobias Wolff and Claire Vaye Watkins as lyrical inspirations – particularly noting their
sentence structures. Lorde stated her music is also inspired by authors, citing Tobias
Wolff, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman and Leonard Cohen as influences on her writing.
Musical style Lorde writes her music vocally, and does not
play musical instruments on record or stage. Lorde's music draws from alternative rock,
art pop, dream pop, electronic rock and electronica. Her work has been compared to Grimes, Lana
Del Rey and Sky Ferreira. Pure Heroine criticises mainstream popular culture, yet examines ideas
typical of teen pop music, such as "social anxiety, romantic yearning, debilitating ennui
[and] booze-soaked ragers", according to Jonah Weiner of Rolling Stone.
Public image Lorde's music and image is noted for challenging
present day pop and for challenging the music of artists including Miley Cyrus and Rihanna.
Forbes placed Lorde on their '30 Under 30' list of young people "who are changing our
world". Lorde was also featured and topped Time magazine's list of the most influential
teenagers in the world, with Time commenting that she was "forging her own path." She was
also praised as one of the most prominent artists in the "post-millennial" era that
has made such an "impact in popular music." Lorde described her public image as coming
"naturally" to her. Impact
Lorde has an impact on American singer Britney Spears, who named Lorde as an influence and
commented that Lorde is "really different and cool [...] It's inspiring for me, and
it makes people eager to listen to music, which helps everyone". In an interview with
USA Today, English singer-songwriter Elton John praised "Tennis Court", describing it
as "one of the most touching, beautiful things on earth." Lorde was named "The New Queen
of Alternative" by Billboard. Personal life
Lorde is a self-identified feminist. She attended Takapuna Grammar School from 2010 to 2013,
completing Year 12; she chose not to return in 2014 to complete Year 13.
In January 2014, media articles revealed that Lorde is in a relationship with 24-year-old
New Zealand-born photographer James Lowe, whom she met before her music career.
Other ventures In April 2014, it was announced Lorde would
be releasing two-piece make-up limited edition collection in collaboration with MAC Cosmetics,
consisting of a lipstick titled after her debut album, Pure Heroine, and an eyeliner.
Lorde's song "The Love Club", was included on the compilation to raise funds for those
affected by Typhoon Haiyan, with the proceeds from the song being donated to the Philippines
for the relief efforts of the Philippines Red Cross. She is working with the Electoral
Commission to increase the voter turnout of young people at the 2014 New Zealand general
election, despite the fact she is seven weeks too young to vote in the 20 September election
herself. Discography
Pure Heroine References
External links Official website
Lorde discography at Discogs Lorde discography at MusicBrainz
Lorde at MTV Lorde at the Internet Movie Database