Lorde Your Heroine

by Marc Shapiro

  Lorde would be the centre of attention at a number of post-Grammy shindigs, gracefully accepting congratulations and wearing a constant ear-to-ear smile. The irony of how celebrity can trump reality amid the glitz and glamour of big-time Hollywood was brought home during the round of parties when, after being on television and with pictures of her seemingly everywhere, Lorde, despite her obvious youth, was let into a party without having to produce ID. She was a literal Cinderella at the ball and, much like Cinderella, the clock would strike midnight and it was time to return to the real world.

  But not without one final private party for family and the closest of friends. After a night of hobnobbing with the rich and famous at the after-show parties, Lorde and her family returned to their hotel. It was 3.00 a.m. But as Sonja recalled in conversation with The Edge, the party was not quite over. In a spontaneous moment of joy and celebration, Lorde and her family jumped into the hotel pool with all their clothes on.

  ‘It was goodbye suit. Goodbye Grammy frock. We were all dripping wet and surrounded by people we knew and liked and wanted to be around.’

  Lorde awoke fairly early the next morning and went shopping in Hollywood with some friends. Later that day she was back on board a big jetliner and taxiing down the runway into a bright sky. Emotionally Lorde was on top of the world.

  Now she was going home.

  Lorde’s Grammy wins had an immediate impact on her online status. According to a New York Times article, an estimated 200,000 Twitter friends were added to Lorde’s ‘friends’ status within twenty-four hours of her winning the Grammys. It was also reported that ticket sales for Lorde’s January 29 show in Auckland had jumped on news of her Grammy wins.

  Lorde’s plane touched down at Auckland Airport the morning of January 29. The singer and her entourage had just entered the international arrivals area when a deafening roar went up. Hundreds of fans had staked out the airport and were cheering their conquering hero. After the initial shock and surprise, Lorde was quite happy to wade into the crowd and take pictures with her fans and sign autographs. She also talked briefly to the assembled press.

  But her welcome home was not without its rough moments. The swarming New Zealand media were particularly aggressive in trying to photograph the singer and one could see from the look on her face that she was not comfortable with this intrusion on her moment of good cheer. She tweeted as much not long after her return to New Zealand.

  ‘I understand that people of note are supposedly fair game for everyone to photograph and film. But that doesn’t make it acceptable. New Zealand media almost pushed my family and myself over in order to get their shots. A bit of a sad welcome if I’m honest.’

  But Lorde would remain remarkably cordial in patiently answering the interviewers obvious, softball questions.

  She insisted in a story that appeared in The Daily Life that winning the previous year’s New Zealand Music Awards had been more intense than the Grammys. ‘I feel like I was more freaking when I won my New Zealand awards to be honest,’ she said. ‘It’s super cool [the Grammys] but it becomes a normal thing once you’re amongst it.’

  Likewise, Joel expressed to The Daily Life a sincere sense of disbelief at the Grammy triumphs and his feelings about being home. ‘This is the highlight for all of us, being back in New Zealand. It was great being in LA but coming back to this and the well-wishers, I’m really chuffed and I know Lorde is too.’

  Lorde continued to be accommodating with her fans, right up until the point when she was gently prodded by her handlers toward the exit, followed by a crowd of screaming, supportive fans who had gotten the autograph, the photo, perhaps the quick word.

  Lorde finally made her way through the airport and disappeared into the day. In a perfect world, she would be heading home to relax. But Lorde would, instead, be back on stage that night in front of thousands of adoring fans.

  FOR LORDE, THIS WAS

  THE PERFECT WORLD.

  And for her mother it was a time to hold back tears as the notion of mother and daughter was now forever linked to celebrity. ‘I’m never letting her go,’ Sonja told The Edge. ‘That’s where you become unstuck with your kids. You don’t ever let them go but you let them move out a little bit.

  ‘You guide them along their path.’

  THE LANEWAY FESTIVAL

  THAT NIGHT WAS AN IDEAL

  HOME COMING AND AWAY TO

  SAY THANK YOU TO LORDE’S

  HOME COUNTRY.

  Admittedly still jet-lagged and still riding high on the wave of emotion from her Grammy wins, Lorde reportedly put on a complete and polished performance. Some of the British press, in a more nattering than vicious way, pointed out that the show was indicative of how Lorde’s act could become a bit tedious, despite the strength of her songs and her haunting stage presence, because of the minimalist nature of the music. But fans don’t usually listen to what critics say and so, for those at the show, the experience was first rate.

  Although continuously loyal to places like New Zealand and Australia, behind the scenes, pressure continued to build that would ultimately tear Lorde away from her base of support. Lorde’s brand of musical creativity was suddenly riding the crest of huge pop music business. Suddenly bands and performers with an edgier, less obvious approach were being sought out and signed. No one could deny that the success of Lorde had brought about a much hoped for renaissance.

  But by February, it appeared that big business, as it pertained to Lorde, might just be winning out.

  Lorde took a few days off for some rest and relaxation in Paris. The City of Lights was very much her emotional layover. She walked the streets, experienced the art and culture and, along with boyfriend James, felt the vibe of easy living that momentarily took her away from her professional world.

  Lorde was very much the young woman while in Paris, resorting to a midnight selfie picture of herself without makeup and spots of acne cream on her face. The shot would immediately go viral. It was good, harmless fun that, to Lorde’s way of thinking, pointed to the fact that she was not flawless or fake and that, at the end of the day, she was just like everybody else.

  But like everything else in Lorde’s world, the notion that she might be a normal teenage girl who had occasional breakouts of acne was turned into a major news story by those gossip columnists who make their living off the insignificant crumbs of celebrities’ lives.

  Shortly after the Paris trip, it was announced that, despite the upcoming US tour, Lorde would also be making an appearance at this year’s Coachella Festival in California and that, come May, she would be the special musical attraction at the legendary Preakness Horse Race Infield Fest in Baltimore It was plain from these announcements that those making the business decisions for Lorde were going all out in the US market. Which ultimately resulted in another announcement that Lorde had cancelled an upcoming Australian tour.

  There was some grumbling that Lorde had suddenly got too big for her leggings. But at the end of the day, success in popular music was, at its core, a numbers game and the numbers in Australia were dwarfed by the possibilities in America.

  Possibilities that had been borne out by the fact that Lorde’s upcoming US tour had sold out in a matter of days. Lorde excitedly tweeted the news to her fans. ‘You sold out my US tour!’

  The news immediately set management and concert promoters into overdrive as they attempted to add further dates to the tour. This was not proving too difficult a task, as witnessed by the fact that her New York show quickly spawned a second date.

  One element of Lorde’s life quickly changed. Despite being well into her final year of secondary schooling, the idea that Lorde would suddenly drop everything so she could take final exams and graduate with her classmates was now dim. Her mother had already said as much during her Radio New Zealand conversation. Lorde would be less sure on the issue in a question-and-answer session with Reditt. ‘I’m really not sure yet. Obviously it would be hard to do at the moment.’

&nbs
p; With the Grammy fervour slowly disappearing and no new news of substance in the days leading up to the start of the US tour, there was a bit of a dry spell for Lorde gossip, which inevitably led to a bit of ‘silly season’ as totally outlandish items began to appear that had no basis in reality.

  There was the old chestnut, ‘Lorde is dead’. It was also time for the not unexpected ‘Lorde has secretly married’ or was pregnant or had broken up with James stories to appear and just as quickly disappear.

  Not every Lorde story would turn out to be false. When the singer’s dog, Spinee, was suddenly taken ill and required immediate and risky surgery, Lorde was all over the internet asking her legions of fans to pray for her dog’s recovery. She would update the world on her dog’s progress for the next twenty-four hours and then happily report that Spinee was on the mend.

  A much more sinister story broke in February, when it was reported that nude photos allegedly taken by Lorde during her recent trip to Paris were now all over the internet and had been published by at least one celebrity magazine. Authorities were immediately on the case, as were Lorde’s legal team. Sadly Lorde had learned a valuable lesson about privacy, and the fact that she was a celebrity meant she had very little of it.

  Lorde’s representatives were becoming a bit more unresponsive when it came to stories about their charge, which only gave credence to stories that would surface regarding her future plans. The latest being that the singer had a security guard posted in front of Golden Age Studios where Lorde had as many as eight new songs in various stages of development. As an aside, the same reports indicated that Lorde was planning a world tour towards the end of 2015.

  The young singer was amused at the speculation surrounding any new music but she couched her amusement in introspection in conversation with the New Zealand Listener. ‘Oh that pressure. I don’t feel it. I feel like whatever I make is going to be so much better than what I’ve made. Of course it’s all well and good to say that when the second album is not even out yet.’

  The reality was that Lorde, during February, was moderately busy on the performing and promotion front. Reportedly in the wake of her cancelling her Australia tour, Lorde attempted to mend some fences with a quick promotional trip to Sydney where, during an interview with Triple J, she confessed that her sudden level of celebrity was anything but normal.

  ‘What I’m going through is so abnormal,’ she remarked during the radio interview that was reported by Radio.com. ‘I feel like a lot of people of my level don’t write about it because a lot of what we do is so boring. It’s interesting for me to write about the weird little details of doing what I do.’

  During the interview Lorde unveiled a new song in her list, a cover of James Blake’s song ‘Retrograde’, which had its official debut in Lorde’s hands during her January appearance in the Laneway Festival. As it would turn out, Lorde would not be the only one unveiling covers to the masses. In February, Lorde’s younger sister, India, made a minor internet splash when she covered the song ‘Say Something’ by the group A Great Big World.

  As another olive branch toward soothing hurt feelings in Australia, Lorde performed at the annual APRA Awards. If the spontaneous and lasting applause was any indication, any alleged slights between Lorde and Australia had been forgotten.

  Lorde’s rapidly rising star was also beginning to carry over to other parts of the world. In the wake of her Grammy and New Zealand awards triumph, it was announced that the singer had been nominated for Best International Female Solo Artist by the prestigious Brit Awards, whose ceremony was slated for February 19 at the London 02 Arena. Adding a bit of excitement to what could most certainly be a by-the-numbers awards appearance was the rumour that Lorde and the up-and-coming British white-noise group Disclosure might well do an on-stage collaboration of her song ‘Royals’. As it would turn out the rumour was fact and, in a conversation with radio station Capital FM, she was enthusiastic about stretching her wings in a truly collaborative state.

  ‘The Brits were like “Would you be open to this?” and I was like “Yes this is so my thing.” I think it’s going to be pretty special. I’m really proud of it. They’re [the group] super easy to work with and so it’s been fun.’

  And that fun would translate into a major music mash-up on the night of the awards show as Lorde sang ‘Royals’ aided and abetted by Disclosure’s sonic contributions. The evening was made complete when Lorde walked off with Best International Female Solo Artist. Lorde acknowledged in a post-awards press conference that she was ‘overwhelmed’ by winning the award. ‘You simply don’t expect to win awards when you’re up against people like Gaga, Pink and others.’

  While on the surface Lorde continued to move through this brave new world of sudden pop stardom with relative ease, there were indications that the constant scrutiny and exposure were beginning to be overwhelming. More and more she was appreciating the time away from the spotlight and the opportunity to be with her family and friends and to just be Ella rather than Lorde, an alter ego that was suddenly seemingly everywhere. Which inevitably led to the tags of Lorde as some kind of role model. She would address that issue in a Vogue Magazine conversation.

  ‘There’s a fine line between role model and preaching to people,’ she said. ‘I never want to tell anyone how they should be, especially not someone my age. But I’m conscious of the fact that people my age are reading what I say and listening to what I say. And that’s cool, especially for the girls who are into what I do.’

  Lorde’s tone of even-handedness when it came to the role model question came as a bit of a surprise. But to her logical way of thinking, in certain quarters she was exactly that. For better or worse.

  There was a particular tone of fatigue and no small amount of resignation in a recent interview with V Magazine. She acknowledged that the sentiments represented in the lyrics of ‘Royals’ do not reflect the place that sudden celebrity has thrust her into. She also seemed mentally up to here with hearing her music everywhere she turned and assumed that even her loyal fans might be feeling the same way.

  ‘I want to let people stop hearing Lorde on the radio all the time because it’s kind of crazy at the moment,’ she told V. ‘I’d like to give people a little bit of breathing room before I unleash something different.’

  She quietly bristled at the V interviewer’s notion that she was being tagged with the dreaded ‘voice of a generation’ label after barely a year. That was the last thing she wanted to hear.

  ‘If people start hearing that about me, they’re going to say, “Fuck off!”’

  IN THE DAYS AND WEEKS

  LEADING UP TO LORDE’S FIRST

  US TOUR, THERE WOULD BE A

  LOT OF SPECULATION AND ONE

  OR TWO SURPRISES.

  Preparations for the upcoming US tour began in earnest. It was a given that Lorde would now be performing a much longer set and so the singer and her band were settled with working some additional tunes into the show’s song list. There were also some tweaks to the presentation of the music as well as the stage set-up to consider.

  Apparently Lorde’s attention to stage details had been in preparation for a while as was acknowledged during an interview with Rookie Magazine. ‘I’ve been writing for what I want to happen onstage for the tour as well as the next music video. I also have been working on some ideas for some kind of television program.’

  But while she was seemingly on an endless ride of being pulled in every conceivable direction at once, Lorde was amazingly calm and about the work, even in what many would consider an ongoing, hellish schedule. The singer would admit that what she was going through was the fun part of the deal in conversation with radio station Live 105.

  ‘I like it. I’m having fun. I make sure that I’m not overwhelmed with stuff to do every day so I actually look forward to it. No, I don’t feel much pressure. I think I felt pressure writing the first record. But because I had success with one of my first songs, it all became normal to me very quic
kly.’

  Lorde would spend long hours fine-tuning the specifics of the tour. Although she had become quite familiar on US shores, she was taking great pains to make her first official American tour something special and something done her way.

  Which meant the possibility of mixing in some as-yet new and unreleased songs. Her cover of Tears for Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ was a possibility, as was her take on the James Blake song ‘Retrograde’. And she had already seen the impact her version of Kanye West’s ‘Hold My Liquor’ could have on an audience.

  In an interview with Rookie, Lorde tantalisingly offered up a very brief listen to a song in the works called ‘Hospitals’. She was mum on where or when the song might appear. These kinds of hints quickly had the internet abuzz with speculation about how the next batch of Lorde songs would sound. At this point the singer was not offering a whole lot of particulars. But she did indicate in conversation with Rookie that there was some experimentation afoot.

  ‘I’ve been playing around with all-instrumental tracks and have laid down some long blues jams,’ she offered.

  Apparently it’s been a lot more than playing around. In a recent Billboard interview, the singer nonchalantly disclosed that she had been finding time between all the touring, promotion and Grammy hoopla to actually get some serious songwriting done. ‘I have been writing but I haven’t really had the time to hit the studio and get some things down on tape. That will be sometime next year.’