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Can you change my mind about the new Lorde song? No- you can't!
Welcome to The Vibes! This is a bonus edition of the newsletter. You can read more editions of The Vibes here.
Good morning!
Just dropping in to defend the new Lorde song! No one asked for this! But some people I have talked to about the song did not like it as much as me and I want to justify my feelings to the world.
Now, I get why people don’t like the production— Jack Antonoff I’m looking at you and your reduce, reuse, recycle policy—
— but I think lyrically and pop-culturally people are mistaken. There was a piece in Jezebel by Hazel Cills that describes the song as “shockingly basic” and, I’ll be honest, it’s not like she’s reinventing the wheel production-wise, in fact, people have been comparing the song to Primal Scream’s “Loaded”, St Vincent’s “…At The Holiday Party” and George Michael’s “Freedom! ‘90” since its release. The lyrics don’t really tread new ground in their content either although this may be the first time someone has sung that they’re “kind of like a prettier Jesus”. We are clearly in fun, carefree, acoustic guitar summer mode (and as a noted Guitar Music fan I cannot help but love) but Cills goes on to question whether Lorde is actually satirising these types of songs and is taking digs at Instagram wellness culture with the lyric “My boy behind me he’s taking pictures”.
I think any and all criticism of art is allowed to exist on the World Wide Web but let’s just slow down and think about Lorde as an artist. When she burst onto the scene in 2012 with The Love Club EP and the massive hit “Royals”, her aesthetic was one of weirdness and moodiness. All black clothes, dark lips, pale skin, jolty dances. People questioned her age because how could a 16-year-old write so perceptively about teenagers? She released her first album, Pure Heroine, in 2013 which changed the production touchstones for Big Pop. Now (white) pop songs took more explicit inspiration from hip-hop and, culturally, the next Lorde— the next cynical teen— was the thing to look out for. She first came in the shape of 19-year-old Alessia Cara who came onto the scene with “Here”, a song that tells listeners that she doesn’t like parties! She’s “An anti-social pessimist”! An outsider! We then got 14-year-old Billie Eilish whose minimalist production and— again— moody, weird aesthetic had her likened to Lorde. Most recently, then 17-year-old Olivia Rodrigo’s record-breaking song “Drivers License” had a bridge that garnered Lorde comparisons the moment it dropped on streaming services.
After Pure Heroine, Lorde took a sort of break- producing the soundtrack for The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 in 2014 and featuring on Disclosure’s song Magnets in 2015. In 2017 she returned to the pop scene with the song “Green Light”, a drastically different and “incorrect[ly]” written song detailing a break-up. This was followed up by the album Melodrama— conceptually a house party fueled with anger, sadness, and hedonism. The album was full of real instruments this time, most importantly the piano that started, ended, and threaded the whole album together. On Pure Heroine, the only ‘acoustic’ instrument was the electric guitar featured on the last track.
In the four years that have passed since Melodrama’s release, it seems that Lorde’s musical output and cultural status have been flattened into the ‘sad indie pop girl’ image. This is where the main disconnect that a lot of people are having with the new single. Yes, “Liability” off of Melodrama, hits at the very depths of heartbreak- “I’m a liability … I’m a little much for everyone … They’re gonna watch me disappear into the sun” and the fan favourite “Ribs”, off Pure Heroine, pinpoints the fear in getting older but Lorde’s music is not sad in the same ways that (her now backing singer) Phoebe Bridgers’ music is sad (not for me though!). Putting her in that box discounts the many parties that are the backdrop to both Pure Heroine and Melodrama, as well as the sweet and funny brattiness that’s existed in Lorde’s music since The Love Club EP.
Even within the cynicism that resonated with audiences on Pure Heroine— “I’m kind of over being told to throw my hands up in the air”— there lies a little teenage brat who is tied up in ideas of image and fame— “How can I fuck with the fun again when I’m known?” she sings on “Tennis Court”. On her biggest hit “Royals”, she’s “in love with being queen”! Tell me there isn’t a direct line from that and believing you should be hung in the Louvre to “lead[ing] the boys and girls onto the beaches”!
In another paragraph, the writer of the Jezebel article wrote that the song “is a sharp pivot from the Lorde audiences are used to.” We find, so often, that we want people to keep in line with the version of them we have in our heads. In this case, it seems like that flattening is occurring in a way that over-intellectualises a song (and music video— don’t ask me how I got here) that is, to quote the artist herself, simply “about that infectious, flirtatious summer energy that takes hold of us all”. Not “elaborate satire” as Hazel Cills tries to argue or a fictional character ignoring climate change as threads on Reddit try to contend. Really seems like these theories are the new version of finding out whether Lorde really was 16 when “Royals” was released. Can’t we let the girl have fun for goodness’ sake!!
Maybe I was just ready to vibe to some acoustic guitars and Hot Girl Summer energy, maybe I just don’t think a complex pop production matters or care about the lack of ‘sophisticated’ lyrics. I do know that this Vibe was always where Lorde was going to end up. I only had to read her interview with Blackbird Spyplane or any one of her sporadic newsletters to know that something a little bit weird, a little bit fun was coming. We’ll see her go back to introspective pop songs eventually— maybe there’ll be a couple on this album, maybe we’ll have to wait— but for now, she’s going to be dancing on the beach.
But maybe I’m wrong and the whole album is about climate change! I just had some thoughts! Don’t confuse me for being a stan! Yuck! Catch me with these 2 songs on repeat for all of Winter and simply Vibing!
Until the next time :)
Bianca