Running into music written and performed by an individual — Lorde — who is the same age (to be precise, 15 days older) than my youngest child is an interesting experience. I find that the best approach is to remain open to the music without trying too hard to relate to Lorde herself, which would be a bit creepy.
Lorde, who is from New Zealand, has the much more interesting given name of Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O’Connor. I hadn’t heard of her until a few days before she won two Grammy awards (Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance) for “Royals,” which is above.
Young doesn’t mean superficial or non-serious, as is evidenced by her musical and literary influences. This is only some of what is related in her Wikipedia entry:
Below is “Team.” Billboard looks at other potential impact musical acts from New Zealand.Lorde’s music draws from electropop, but she 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, the band Sleigh Bells and producer SBTRKT as her prominent influences.[61][62] 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”,[11] and called American musical artist Nicki Minaj an “important female in pop.”[63]
Lorde describes short story writers Raymond Carver, Wells Tower, Tobias Wolff and Claire Vaye Watkins as lyrical inspirations – particularly noting their sentence structures.[64] Lorde stated her music is also inspired by authors, citing Tobias Wolff, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman and Leonard Cohen as influences on her writing.[65] (Continue Reading…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JuxM-snGc
Below is “Team.” Billboard looks at other potential impact musical acts from New Zealand.
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