by Marc Shapiro
ROLL. WITH IN A FEW WEEKS, THE
FREE MUSIC HAD RESULTED IN
MORE THAN 60,000 DOWNLOADS.
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
REALISED THEIR MISTAKE AND
CALLED A HALT TO THE GIVE AWAY.
But not before The Love Club had come to the attention of the Universal Music Group American subsidiary label, Lava Records. The company president, Jason Flom, wasted little time in getting on the horn with Maclachlan. A deal was struck. Quite simply it had been Flom being first to call, as well as his reputation for coveting and breaking new, edgier performers, that had sealed the deal.
The next few months were a whirlwind of quiet but persistent activity.
Lorde and Joel were in the studio at every opportunity and quality songs continued to flow from the collaboration. Maclachlan, who for all intents and purposes had become Lorde’s de facto manager, took it upon himself to contact and eventually sign a deal with US concert promoters Windish Agency, a lesser known agency but albeit one that had a reputation for positive results with more artsy, fringe performers such as Foster the People and Goyte. This was considered a bold move as it would be another six months before Ella stepped on a performing stage for the first time as Lorde.
Tom Windish had built a reputation as a progressive rebel in the touring industry. With an instinctive eye and ear on talent off the beaten path, he could reportedly size up talent very quickly. As he explained in a Chicago Sun Times interview, he formed an opinion on Lorde almost immediately.
‘The quality of her songs were undeniable,’ he said. ‘The lyrics, the beats, the melody, the story. I could tell she was authentic.’
Neil Harris, manager of two of the Windish Agency artists Cut Copy and Dragonette, and who also related that he was in sync with the way Maclachlan wanted Lorde to be presented to the world stage, said, ‘I knew Scott wanted her to be presented as a left field artist who wasn’t shoved down everyone’s throat. Windish is probably better at that than anybody. They’ve got cool for lack of a better word.’
Lorde turned sixteen amid this rush of activity, normally a milestone in a young girl’s life. The prom would be coming up soon and the always fashion-conscious Ella had to have the perfect dress. There were also final exams to consider and the seemingly never-ending pile of dishes that needed to be washed.
Turning sixteen was made more important by the fact that her talent and the fates had brought her to the brink of stardom at such a young age. There was a constant air of anticipation and excitement as Ella temporarily put aside the Lorde persona in favour of some relatively normal family and school time. But as she began, often grudgingly, to do more promotion and her story began to unfold in a public arena, it became evident that Lorde was beginning to become the dominant force.
Things tend to move a bit slower once a major label takes over and, while Lava Records was inclined to move at light speed, Universal Music Group was taking a traditionally more leisurely approach to unleashing The Love Club on the world. Early reports indicated an official digital release in the first quarter of 2013 and a CD release to follow two months later.
But behind the scenes, Lava Records’ head Jason Flom had other ideas.
FLOM KNEW TECHNOLOGY.
HE KNEW YOUTH CULTURE,
WHICH LIVED AND DIED
BY THE INTERNET, TEXTING
AND TWEETING. HE KNEW
THAT WOULD BE THE WAY
TO BREAK LORDE VERY BIG
AND VERY FAST.
And with the official digital download of The Love Club now set for March 2013, Flom knew that he had to move fast. Which meant getting a copy of The Love Club to Sean Parker.
Parker, Napster co-founder, former Facebook president and an early Spotify backer and head of one of Spotify’s most influential music platforms, Hipster International, had a golden ear when it came to identifying superstar talent in the making. Parker respected Flom’s instincts enough to immediately give Lorde a listen. He liked what he heard, as he explained to Forbes.
‘I feel like, in many ways, she’s the antidote to disposable pop music,’ he said. ‘There’s obviously something more authentic and personal in Lorde’s music. I get the sense that she represents the return to a singer/songwriter approach to songwriting.’
And as Parker would prove, he was all action when it came to getting ‘Royals’ off to a flying start.
The first shot was fired on March 19 when the track ‘Royals’ was added to the Spotify platform. Lorde not surprisingly burst out of the gate locally as well. ‘Royals’ debuted at No. 1 on the New Zealand Top 40 charts and would remain at that position for three weeks. On that same day The Love Club EP debuted at No.2, beaten out for the top spot by the latest release by David Bowie.
With the growing notoriety, the people on the management side felt it was time to drop the cloak of mystery surrounding what Lorde looked like (to that point there had only been one photo) and to finally reveal her. Lorde’s first full-blown photo shoot would take place that month in conjunction with an appearance in the New Zealand Listener.
Reportedly Lorde was comfortable in front of the camera lens and at ease with the photographer directing her in different poses that, largely, played to the notion of her as a Goth/Pop intellect. The singer was now officially out there for the whole world to see.
Then, as part of an early ramp up to the May 2013 release of The Love Club CD, ‘Royals’ was added to the coveted Hipster International site on April 2. ‘The moment Lorde’s ‘Royals’ was added to Hipster International’s playlist, we saw an immediate reaction from around the world,’ Flom told Forbes.
Six days later ‘Royals’ made its entry on the Spotify Viral Charts. Lorde took an active role in that early promotional push, shooting interview and performing footage that was turned into what was called a Homepage Takeover to promote the single. By early May, ‘Royals’ had reached No. 1 on the Spotify Viral Chart.
The immediate success of ‘Royals’ had Lorde in a bit of a tizzy emotionally. The song was important to her in so many ways. But now that it was literally everywhere on the internet, she was a bit perplexed as she offered to New York Magazine.
‘I experienced such a disconnect with that song. Everyone knows its bullshit. But somebody had to write about it.’
For a song so spot on and pointed in its lyrical dissection, it was inevitable that ‘Royals’ would have its controversy and at least one very vocal detractor. In a column for the website Feministing, writer Veronica Beyetti Flores took ‘Royals’ to task for what she considered its racist attitude, citing the use of such words as ‘gold teeth’, ‘Cristal’ and ‘Maybach’ as evidence of anti-black sentiments. She said, ‘Why shit on black folks? Why shit on rappers?’
The charges against ‘Royals’ and, by association, Lorde generated just enough traction that the singer, in a Rookie interview, felt obligated to address them. ‘When highly respected writers start to question what you’re doing, you start to question what you’re doing and, if you’ve done something wrong, you think about it. But I do think people were using those words to make their arguments. I was not using those words to target rappers and black people. Those kinds of things are about the excess of pop culture in general and not about any specific group.’
Lorde’s explanation seemed to mollify her critics and the racist charges quickly disappeared.
With the CD version of The Love Club due to be released in a matter of days, Lorde had to begin to deal with the sudden clamour to see her perform live. But after due consideration, the singer and Maclachlan decided on brief sets at small out-of-the-way clubs to get her feet wet. Which meant that Lorde was suddenly in need of some musicians.
Maclachlan went through his Rolodex and discovered that keyboard player Jimmy MacDonald and drummer Ben Barter seemed to fit the bill. Both were veterans of a number of different musical genres, had extensive touring credentials, were respected session musicians and were very laidback. More important on a personal front, they
did not have any problems backing and taking orders from somebody half their age. Ultimately, and even more important, they had the requisite technological chops to make Lorde’s admittedly minimalist sound much bigger and resounding in a live setting. Lorde would be the final decision. MacDonald and Barter, who were in the United States when they received the call, immediately flew back to New Zealand and, after some conversations and informal rehearsals, Lorde gave the pair a thumbs-up for the gig.
The sites chosen for Lorde’s first live shows were Mighty Mighty in Wellington and Gallatos in Auckland. Both clubs had a reputation for looking kindly on new acts and their intimate nature made an ideal first step for Lorde. Allowing that Lorde, despite her outward composure, would be nervous at her first live dates, Maclachlan made a point of not inviting the media. But word spread quickly, in particular when it came to tiny Mighty Mighty.
On the night of her performance at Mighty Mighty, Lorde was a bundle of nerves as she, two roadies and her musicians arrived for their soundcheck. Lorde, despite her best efforts, was an emotional trainwreck.
‘I was nervous,’ she told 3rd Degree. ‘It was bad. I was very stressed out. There was a lot emotionally invested in me as an artist and I was thinking that I’ve got to deliver.’
The first song she played that night was ‘Bravado’. A bold first statement on a very shaky night.
As reported in Stuff, the first show, with a capacity of 140 seats, sold out in 73 seconds. A second show was not far behind, with those who could not get in clamouring for a third show to be added. Lorde remembered the night in an interview with New York Magazine.
‘I played my first show in May. I was so nervous. It was real small, about 120 people or something like that. The room was filled with my friends. It was such a strange feeling. I had never been in a situation where everyone was there to see me.’
By all accounts those first performances were a success. The songs carried additional substance and emotion in a live setting. Despite the nerves, Lorde seemed ultimately at ease in the spotlight and reportedly warmed to the situation and, by show’s end, was at ease in front of the appreciative audiences.
The one thing audiences of those early shows noticed was that Lorde did not move like most pop stars. There was a kind of spasmodic sense of time and space in her moves in which a mixture of mindlessness and impressionistic guided her steps. The singer knew that it was different when she talked to The Wall Street Journal. ‘I’m too weird as a performer to copy anyone else,’ she explained. ‘I kind of thrash around. I know it’s unsettling to look at. But the truth is that I can’t dance.’
Nobody was more relieved than MacDonald and Barter who had taken a big chance by relocating back to New Zealand on a wing and a prayer for a couple of very small club dates. But as the drummer offered to 3 News, they had done an equally solid job on very short notice. ‘At the start, we didn’t know if we were doing a good job or not. When we first came from the States, we expected session musicians to step in at some point and be like “Okay, we’ll take it from here. Just go home!”’
MacDonald was even more succinct in conversation with NZ Musician. ‘I don’t know what I expected. All I wanted was to be on tour. If I could have enough money to survive and be on tour, that’s all I wanted.’
Fortunately the powers that be in the Lorde camp were duly impressed and the pair were immediately offered permanent positions in the band.
The Love Club made its long anticipated CD release in May. The hype machine at Universal Music Group had been working overtime. Now it was time for the critics to have their say. And they would.
Allmusic praised the lyrical content of the release, describing it as ‘electro pop meditations on life, love and the eternal joys and pains of youth.’ The New Zealand Herald chimed in, praising Lorde’s voice saying, ‘it seems to come from someone twice her age.’ The Nelson Mail also focused on the strength of Lorde’s vocals, describing her voice as ‘impressive and smoky’.
Typical of Lorde, she was excited yet subdued at the impact The Love Club was having on her. The singer admitted to New York Magazine that she was also getting her fair share of the downside of sudden celebrity.
‘Now I get recognised, which is weird. People come up to me when I’m in a restaurant and I’ve got a mouthful of food. I’ve also had to change my Facebook account because I’ve started getting messages from dudes saying we’re going to be the best of friends.’
Prior to the release of ‘Royals’, it had been a foregone conclusion that Lorde would make an accompanying video. Lorde had not been averse to making a video but, as she explained to The Huffington Post, it had to be done on her terms. Which would mean that, with a couple of brief exceptions, Lorde would not appear in the video.
‘The music video for me was all about creating a piece of art,’ she said of the video, which was directed by Joel Kefali. ‘I wanted it to be cinematic and to be something you can immerse yourself in.’
To that end, the ‘Royals’ video was very much a do-it-yourself effort. Shot in and around her hometown, it offers up segments featuring her friends from school doing seemingly mundane things as the music weaves in and out of the scenario.
‘The song and the video were my attempt to keep it real,’ she said in a Bullett interview. ‘Basically I got a bunch of my friends to jerk around and do nothing for a day and we filmed it. I guess what I was trying to do was to let other people my age know I was feeling the same as them.’
The ‘Royals’ video made its debut on May 12 and had gathered more than 100,000 hits within the first 24 hours.
Nobody would blame Lorde if she had taken a bit of a break. ‘Royals’ and The Love Club were just beginning to take off in the rest of the world, including the all-important US charts and had insured this first round of songs a long run.
BUT LORDE DID NOT WORK
THAT WAY.
AFTER THE IMMEDIATE
AND RESOUNDING SUCCESS OF
‘ROYALS’ AND THE LOVE CLUB
EP, THE EXPECTATIONS WERE
THAT A FULL - LENGTH ALBUM
WOULD NEXT BE IN THE OFFING.
The last thing anybody expected was another EP containing three previously released songs and one new song, the projected new single ‘Tennis Court’.
But the prevailing attitude between Lorde and her backers was a need to prime the pump one more time before a full album was released. Thus the single ‘Tennis Court’, a song that reflected Lorde’s abiding interest in looking back as well as confronting her current status in the often alien territory of the music business.
Lorde had never played tennis but, as she explained to VH-1, she had always looked upon a tennis court as ‘as a symbol of nostalgia and beauty’. As for the song’s slightly jaundiced look at her present state in the music business, she explained to Maclean’s that it was a detached look at the nature of the beast.
‘I wrote my song ‘Tennis Court’ after having had a glimpse into the music industry and I was thinking how superficial people can be and how we put up all these fronts.’
In hindsight, ‘Tennis Court’ may well have been a more pointed and attacking song than ‘Royals’. Its jagged observations appeared more tough and universal in tone and not quite as age specific as ‘Royals’ had been. ‘Royals’ was easily one of the best songs of the year but a strong case could be made for ‘Tennis Court’ as a more relatable one.
By this time the chemistry between Lorde and Joel had become so instinctive and ingrained that they would often go hours without speaking in the studio, each attending to their own elements of her music before meeting in the figurative middle to exchange ideas. But as Joel related in an interview with Billboard, the occasion of ‘Tennis Court’ would add a new twist to their creative relationship.
‘Up until that point she would always bring lyrics and we would take inspiration from those as to where to go with the music. But with ‘Tennis Court’, this was one instance where I started putting the music together and
she would be writing the melodies. That song was one where we had everything but the chorus. She was sitting in the back of the room while I was working on the music and she said, “I think I’ve got a chorus idea.”’ I said, “Let’s hear it”, but she said no. It wasn’t ready yet. Once she had it, she basically sang the entire chorus and I was like “Holy shit! This is seriously good.”’
The completed song was a droning industrial mix of pop and art rock that meshed perfectly with Lorde’s trademark disembodied/disinterested vocal shadings. A song this dark and brooding was tailor-made for an accompanying video and Lorde was happy to oblige, once again enlisting the services of director Joel Kefali to film a truly surreal, haunting video. In it, Lorde is pictured in a tight close-up wearing black clothing and lipstick with her hair braided. As ‘Tennis Court’ plays in the background, the singer stares silently into the camera. She does not lip sync, except for the word ‘yeah’, which she mouths several times as she fades in and out of blackness. Lorde’s reputation as an artsy minimalist champion when it came to videos was further enhanced by ‘Tennis Court’.
The single ‘Tennis Court’ debuted digitally on June 7, 2013, the same day as the Tennis Court EP was made available. Critics who had only a couple of months previously been tossing about the good word on ‘Royals’ were rushing out new superlatives in praise of her second single.
New Musical Express praised the song for its ‘forward looking genres and Lorde’s strong pop vocals’. Grantland called the song ‘a murkily winsome ever so slightly chopped ballad.’ And even superstar Elton John could not resist commenting on the song to USA Today when he said ‘Tennis Court’ was ‘one of the most lovely, beautiful things on earth.’
