New singer Lorde calls out opulence in pop and rap songs

Like most people, I have a wide range of musical tastes, including a lot of pop music. If it’s got a nice sound, a good beat, I’m into it. Sometimes, though, the lyrics are so materialistic and braggy it can be distracting. 16-year-old Lorde is the cure for that.

Lorde’s single “Royal” from Pure Heroine is tearing up the charts, and the lyrics poke fun, capture an ironic sadness about the very success and prosperity she’s achieving.

At the very least, it’s a lot more relatable than a lot of the stuff you hear on the radio:

I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I’m not proud of my address,
In a torn-up town, no post code envy

But every song’s like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin’ in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room,
We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your time piece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.
We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair.

Lorde doesn’t just save her comments on pop music for her lyrics, she recently called out Taylor Swift for presenting “too perfect” an image to her fans.

“Taylor Swift is so flawless, and so unattainable, and I don’t think it’s breeding anything good in young girls. ‘I’m never going to be like Taylor Swift, why can’t I be as pretty as Lorde?’ That’s f–king bulls–t,” Lorde said.

But Monday, Lorde gave further explanation of those comments on her Facebook page:

i think i cocked that up a bit and what i said wasn’t put in context also. what i meant was: there’s a lot of importance placed on physical perfection in this industry, and i wish my favourite stars didn’t look perfect because i think fans (me included) have these feelings of worthlessness, like they’ll never be as pretty/talented/whatever, as a result of this intense photoshop culture and the endless strive for perfection. ts was the first person i thought of, which i regret. she happens to be good looking, but i think she actually uses her other imperfections in an incredibly powerful and relatable way. taylor swift has a very unique vision, which i admire. i think somewhere along the line also there was a misquote where people got the impression i thought writing about love was shameful. i don’t! i just haven’t found a way of doing it which is powerful and innovative, which is why i don’t.

ps. i am very very new to this whole thing. i will probably never be the kind of role model for my fans that ts is for hers. i admire her very much for this reason. basically, this is an apology for not thinking too hard before i speak. peace.