As those who have heard “Royals” know, Lorde’s voice is a powerful instrument, particularly when stacked on top of itself like a Queen song. Little knows what he’s working with, and virtually every success and failure of Pure Heroine can be traced back to Lorde’s voice and lyrics.
The album’s production, provided by Goodnight Nurse’s Joel Little, uses heavily-reverbed synth sounds and simplistic drum patterns to frame Lorde’s words and evoke an ethereal, nighttime soundscape that just so happens to congeal into sturdy pop songs, sometimes in exciting, unexpected ways. While some critics have been quick to draw comparisons to other blog-bred chanteuses like Lana Del Ray, in truth, the hushed, brooding dream-pop of Lorde’s sound is actually closer in spirit to the provocatively incongruent poetry of Lisa Germano than it is to Del Ray’s lethargic line-reads. Tailoring away on your songs for four years certainly helps, but we’ve all seen the buzz-backlash cycle enough times before to know that such criticisms about such mature work coming from a voice so young is all just a part of the process. Of course, the only way to generate this type of backlash is to have songs prominent enough to encourage it, and some of the haranguing that’s been going around is simply because Pure Heroine (Lorde’s first album following an EP in late 2012) sounds so fully-formed upon arrival, much like the young Ms. Despite the haunting appeal of Lorde’s sound and her evocative lyrics, some are quick to rush to judgment, calling her manufactured and pre-packaged. There has been much griping in certain corners of the press about the origin stories of the 16-year-old artist named Lorde, a New Zealand songstress born Ella Yelich-O’Connor who just recently topped the U.S. That musician, of course, is Alicia Keys. We all know how it started: a young, aspiring musician is spotted by a wise industry type who notes the incredible talent she has on display, signs her to a record deal, but keeps her quiet for years on end, slowly sharpening songwriting, delivery, and overall aesthetic until the time is just right to unleash her onto the world, culminating in a gigantic level of attention and admiration for the release of her first big single.
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