Review:
Lorde is the stage name of New Zealand singer-songwriter Ella Yelich-O’Conner.
Her debut album Pure Heroine follows her critically acclaimed EP The
Love Club (which came out earlier this year).
Lorde’s Pure Heroine seems to
both fit perfectly into today’s musical landscape as many of the tracks are
ripe with catchy pop hooks and a sarcastic (if not bored) reaction to hip hop’s
major influence on youth culture in addition to the mundane sameness of
radio-friendly music, which can especially be heard in the song Royals.
Yelich-O’Conner has a very sultry yet lively voice that is in many ways hypnotizing,
giving her songs this smooth quality that is easy for listeners to latch onto
and find themselves enchanted by. There is just something special about her
voice.
Musically, many of the songs, all
of which produced by New Zealand musician Joel Little, have a very minimalist
and stripped-down sound. This is a nice touch, as it fits Yelich-O’Conner’s
voice well and offers a different sound to the EDM and orchestration of a lot
of today’s pop music. However, the beats that accompany Lorde (which she also
helped compose with Little) are also maybe the weakest aspect of her album. Upon
multiple listens, the music just seems to arrive at the rather monotonous place
and I often find myself just zoning-out while listening instead of being
engaged.
Lorde is a breath of fresh air
among young pop stars, and this is an album well worth checking out. In a way,
this is a pop album that is very much anti-pop in its sound and message. 3/5
Essential Tracks:
Available on: Digital
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