Pure Heroine by Lorde

I have to admit, I'm not usually into number one hits, but Royals by Lorde has been a definite exception.  Even after hearing it on the radio every ten minutes, I listen to it on loop on my iPod.  I definitely like her as a person - she's said some pretty cool stuff about her views on the music industry today - and with the fact that she writes all of her own music and is only 16 years old, I have to give her some credit.  Today, her new album Pure Heroine came out.

The album starts of with one of my favorites, Tennis Court, a heavily synthesized song with booming bass and heavy hip-hop influences.  The lyrics ponder her newfound fame, calling for a moment to show people "how little we care", a different kind of typical teen rebellion. The head raiser, however, is her melodramatic "I fall apart, with all my heart / And you can watch from your window". It's pretty clear commentary on teen star breakdowns. The sound is very similar to Lana Del Ray's, but with the combination of heaver bass and her strong lyrics, it does provide some differences so they don't sound too similar.  She brags about how easy it is for her to make music: “Making smart with the words again? Well, I’m bored,” she casually boasts.

400 Lux is a little less strong musically, very repetitive and more Lana Del Ray-esque with its soaring orchestral backup.  Lyrically it is still pretty strong, telling the story of a boy driving her home after a tiring party. She tells enough to establish a dreary suburban Auckland where the kids dream hard and sneak drinks. (The sentence "We're hollow like the bottles that we drink" shines.) This backdrop supposedly lasts for the entire album, which I find intriguing as few albums ever have a  specific setting.

Next up is everyone's favorite, Royals.  As we all know, this one is fresh and catchy, with the strong snapping beat and stacked vocals, and the topic is pretty interesting.  Like Tennis Court, it talks about celebrities, discussion how distant they are, what ridiculous lives they lead. While not coming across as hypocritical by admitting to love loving Nicki Minaj and Lana Del Rey, Lorde doesn't condemn pop music; she just wants an alternative. She says she and her friends love the fantasy, are "driving Cadillacs in our dreams". It's just that the fantasy needs to make it clear that it's exactly that...and in that way, she's brilliant.

Ribs...bleh.  Not very strong music and kinda weak lyrics as she complains about being afraid of getting old.  The rhyme scheme and fragmented lines are interesting, but musically I really don't like this one as much as the others.

With Buzzcut Season, Lorde casts a haunting, sleepy spell with the melancholy piano and soaring vocals, recalling an incident of hair burning, and reporting how the men on the news say "that we will lose". She again mourns her fame. Her lyrics "I'll live in a hologram with you" really stick with you.

Things pick up tempo again with Team,  which comes around the halfway point of the album.  It also has a strong hip-hop beat and another atmospheric anthem of a chorus: “We live in cities you’ll never see on screen, not very pretty but we sure know how to run things.” It’s a recalls the “Royals” chorus: “We’ll never be royals, it don’t run in our blood, that kind of luxe just ain’t for us, we crave a different kind of buzz.” This seems to be a pretty strong point for her, her want to “run things,” her want to “be your ruler,” but not with the extravagant, fancy life that traditional pop stars demand. 

Glory and Gore, my absolute favorite and a hauntingly beautiful song, uses the battles of the Coliseum and gladiators to describe our culture's obsession with celebrity drama.  While artists may not actually kill each other, Lorde reflects that people really do enjoy this "bloodshed" of drama. 

With Still Sane, Lorde again reflects on fame and makes a decision to risk her sanity with "I'm little but I'm coming for the crown". She wonders about the possibly coming off as a jerk, wondering, "Only bad people live to see their likeness in stone / What does that make me?"

White Teeth Teens is a second part of The Love Club, my favorite song off of her first EP.  It describes the lust for perfection, especially with teenagers and (is this a theme I'm noticing?) their want to be like celebrities.

The album closes out with A World Alone, a fantastic album closer. Its stark guitar hits home about how dark life can be.  She describes her and her friend's bad habits and how people hate on her and them, their jealousy, and how they ignore it.  She closes out, answering the first line presented in "Tennis Court" with "let 'em talk", pulling the whole album together nicely.

The main things that stood out with album were the raw emotion, amazing lyrics, and the very similar sound and feel of each of the songs.  There is a pulse running throughout the album.  A steady drumbeat flows through every song, its tone ranging from hard hip-hop to the driving indie rock sound that is present in a lot of music right now. It's very percussive, but that sound never really takes the center of her lyrics, though it is always in the background.  The music is almost hypnotic sounding, with the many harmonized vocals and beat that just asks you to sing along.  However, this strong flow and similar sound within the songs is what seems to hold this album back from greatness. The album feels a bit incomplete, with too many songs winding along without any significant build.  Ribs and Buzzcut Season in particular are very similar styles - slower beats, dark choruses and hypnotic percussion. There is some contrast, though, with White Teeth Teens and A World Alone's upbeat and energetic feel with a chord progression almost recalling Vampire Weekend.  

Lorde’s clearly a gifted songwriter for her age, but don’t let the novelty affect your view of Pure Heroine. It’s a very mature album, and if you like indie/pop music, you definitely should try this album out.  She seems to really write from her heart and care about what she communicates in her music. What with all of the on Pure Heroine talking about her exploits as a teenager, pre-fame, then what will her songs be like post-fame, as an adult?   This normal life that she yearns for and seemingly lusts for definitely wouldn't be easy to achieve if she keeps gathering fame. While it’s no masterpiece, Pure Heroine is unique enough to keep conversation going, and despite its somewhat monotonous sound, I do really like it.