At the age of 16, Lorde has made a name for herself by being the youngest person to have a number one single in the UK since 1998. With her haunting cover of Tears for Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ appearing on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, it is clear that this teenage talent isn’t going to disappear from the spotlight anytime soon. However, her age is not of importance when you listen to her debut album Pure Heroine. It has a Lana Del Rey feel to it, which means that the lyrics are strong with equally great melodies behind them.
‘Tennis Court’ starts the album, and sets the tone for Pure Heroine. It describes the troubles of being a teenager, but it isn’t corny in anyway. The melodic drum beat that features on many of her tracks shows that ‘Pure Heroine’ isn’t going to be a pop album full of ballads. Instead, it is an atmospheric album full of songs with a mature yet fresh edge. Similarly, ‘400 Lux’ is meant to be a love song but she doesn’t reveal too much, unlike some of her popstar peers. In the album’s lead single ‘Royals’, she is basically declaring that she isn’t going to become a typical popstar with the celebrity lifestyle like Miley Cyrus. The lyrics “Let me be your ruler/You can call me Queen B,” suggests that people should look up to her and not to the celebrities in it for the fame and the money instead of their craft.
’Buzzcut Season’is about how the media can be destructive to musicians. The lyric, “all the girls with heads inside a dream,” symbolises how we are in the age of reality TV and how people think that all they need to do to get a record deal is go on TV. Although it is trying to send a message across, it is a relaxing piece of music, like the whole album. ‘Glory and Gore’ continues the theme about the media and obsession with violence, as shown through the lyrics “Glory and gore go hand-in-hand/That’s why we’re making headlines.” Even though it’s a dark topic, the hook makes the song catchy. ‘Still Sane’ reflects how she is grateful for her success as a musician, even though it has meant maturing quickly, and it’s the one song on the album that reveals Lorde’s age. With her smooth soulful vocals, it is a good example of the comparison to Lana Del Rey.
My favourite song on the album is ‘A World Alone’. It’s the ideal way to end Pure Heroine as nothing could have bettered the track in terms of lyrics and production. This song reveals us the most about her life outside of music, and even though most female singers have used the theme of being fully compatible with one person, it is rarely done as beautifully as this. It is a stunning ballad one minute and then drops into a synthetic dance beat the next.
Lorde has achieved a rarity with her first album. All the songs are of a high standard and could all be successful as singles. As a whole, the album sends out the strong message that the media isn’t going to change her. She only cares about the music, which shows through Pure Heroine. With comparisons to Lana Del Rey and Haim already being made, this could be the start of a successful career for the teenage songstress.