r/lorde

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.

Today’s her last show

Ultrasound is over

Lorde on ending her deal with her label

The only way to listen to this song

lorde tattoo!

Lorde Document Journal Spring/Summer 2025

I think Lorde is the most anti-pop pop star of her peers

Do you guys think we will get any more US shows this album / tour

September was a good month

I try not to play favorites, but I can’t help it. No one compares to the prettier Jesus.