u/thatgreekguyraul

Lorde is a pop star, but the more time passes the more apparent it becomes just how idiosyncratic she operates compared to her peers. And the definition of what even constitutes her peers is debatable but putting it in broad terms, let’s define it as the mainstream female pop acts that became famous around the time she debuted and those that came after her.

She is known for being highly selective and strict with who she allows to give licenses to for film and TV needle drops. Hustlers fought to have “Royals” soundtrack a memorable scene featuring Jennifer Lopez. The music supervisor spoke about this in length in an interview where it was known that she usually declines requests for use of her music in media. The famous Broadway play, starring Sadie Sink, John Proctor Is the Villain, which was heavily influenced by Green Light, incorporates the song in more ways than the entire songs featured in the play. The playwright send personal letters and practically begged to have the license to use Green Light or else rewrite those scenes that the playwright herself said would not work with any other song but Green Light. Who knows what other major films, shows or plays were unable to get Lorde or her team to sign off on their license request of her music.

Beyond that, she is notorious for releasing material sporadically and having long and extensive breaks between album cycles with little to no features the way other pop acts would NEVER do. Where they seek to maximize profit by releasing features and droplets before the next album cycle to maintain relevancy, Lorde refuses it all together and rejects the form. Very rare to find this with mainstream pop acts. And it has done wonders for her career because the music from the albums she’s dropped speak louder of her vision.

Her recent tour subverted every idea of what a concert should look like — from intentionally making arenas minimalist, dressing in the most normal and natural way possible, unchoreographed movement from both the artist and the two dancers, which in other mainstream pop tours would be at least 7 dancers with maximal budget invested. That and also the interactions between Lorde and the camera and her ability to communicate in a language that is entirely nonverbal when it comes to the intimacy she has to make stages feel intimate when she commands them. Also have to note the camerawork of Sam Penn, which at first, was not entirely sold on the bare and almost monochrome aesthetic, but makes so much sense within the context and narrative of Ultrasound.

Not just that, but also her songwriting and her melodic approach to music is unconventional while still retaining the pop element she admires. Her production work has always been minimal and it helps to keep her language as the principal focus of the mission statement. She really is one of pop’s most gifted songwriters. Not even a songwriter but a poet in the way she can describe something without being explicit about it. You just know from the descriptions of the world around her what she’s trying to say. The famous “show, don’t tell” in film and visual media that she does in music so well. I mean, I could go on forever with this essay, but Lorde truly is an outsider inside the mainstream and she will remain highly influential despite her small output. And I think she should continue to break the traditions of what pop can be.

Asking this question as the last time it was asked was 8 years ago and the discourse will likely change.

To clarify, how famous is she in the country you reside in?

I had a strong desire to listen to “Don’t Tell Me” and “What It Feels Like for a Girl” and randomly started listening to American Life in full after remembering her rap verse from the title track. It got me thinking: these two albums have a lot more in common than people think.

At the time, American Life was met with polarizing reviews due to its folktronica direction and lyrical content that many felt was self-indulgent. She writes from an almost outsider perspective throughout most of the album. Some of the songs touch on subjects like existentialism with critiques of consumerism, political commentary, and satire of celebrity culture as well as love and introspection.

American Life was released 5 years since Ray of Light, arguably her magnum opus. It remains a favourite among critics, consistently appearing on multiple timespan listicles. Music dropped some years after, but it still did not reach the heights of what Ray of Light did from both cultural and critical clout. Solar Power dropped 4 years after Melodrama, her critically adored masterpiece and also the favourite that routinely gets mentioned on critics’ listicles. Both albums were criticized for steering too far from the elements that critics and fans loved from both artists.

In terms of songs, “California”, “The Path” and “Fallen Fruit” have the spirit of “Hollywood” and the title track in its lyrics the same way “Mother and Father” reflect on family and existentialism like “Oceanic Feeling”. “Secrets” and “Stoned” both express disillusionment with purpose like “X-Static Profusion” and to a lesser extent “Love Profusion”, which uses those same feelings but instead talks about finding someone to keep her grounded in the midst of chaos and political unrest. It makes sense that these two albums would sound the way they do. They were reactions to what was happening on a global scale: for Madonna, it was clear 9/11 and the war on Iraq were subjects she was referencing on the album much like Lorde was reacting to Covid and how much climate change progressed during the album development process.

Most of American Life is underlaid with folk and acoustic elements the same way Solar Power is. We all know Solar Power was also a polarizing album to critics and fans. But both have also seen a more retrospective reappraisal in the years since their releases. Of course, there are other elements that make these two albums very different, but there are some undeniable parallels I couldn’t help but point out.