Lorde, otherwise known as Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, is a 25 year-old New Zealand singer-songwriter. She has released three albums throughout her career entitled Pure Heroine (2013), Melodrama (2017), and Solar Power (2021).

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Lt37kcPyAU0Ed3wvHaeNM?si=jTTg-wSpTD6sSAHl8ls4rQ

Pure Heroine:

When Ella’s debut album came out, she was 16 years old. With the lead single entitled Royals, she won Song of The Year and Best Pop Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2013. The album deals with the themes of youth, fame, social status, and exploring new worlds. The main idea presented in this album is teenage experience and growing up. My favorite tracks of this album is titled Ribs, giving the listeners a feeling of youthfulness and Buzzcut Season. Ella has spent many years in the music industry, and her music has grown with her.

Melodrama:

Moving to her album called Melodrama, she breaks off to become more self-focused and internal. This album was mostly a solo project, and Ella allows herself to show venerable lyrics. Ella was 20 years old during the release of this album, and she worked closely with Jack Antonoff (Who is Jack Antonoff?). One of her songs that interests me the most is the track titled Liability. It shows a new side of Ella’s songwriting that she has not shown before, shining a light on the importance of self-acceptance. Another one of my favorites is called Hard Feelings/Loveless. This song encapsulates specific feelings of letting go that are difficult to put into words, but this song explains them perfectly. Supercut is another one of my all time favorite songs ever created, giving a perfect production of music along with intense lyrics. The song titled The Louvre is another one of my favorites to listen to regularly. Melodrama is an album that I reach for quite frequently, as it’s perfect to listen to on all occasions. Prior to the creation of Melodrama, Ella traveled from New Zealand to the United States to explore the world around her to inspire her creation of the album. She has a trend of “disappearing” after the release of her albums in order to gain more stories to write about. When she does this, she doesn’t post on any form of social media. This album focuses primarily on heartbreak, and she captures it perfectly.

Solar Power:

Most recently, Ella’s third studio album (Solar Power) is basically the definition of summer. She wrote this album from inspiration after traveling to Antarctica in 2019. This album was released while Ella was 24 years old, four years following Melodrama. She utilized the help of Jack Antonoff again on this album after he played a major role in the creation of her last album. The singles for this album were titled Solar Power, Stoned at the Nail Salon, and Mood Ring. I enjoy listening to this album on a nice sunny day because this album is always perfect for relaxing.

Lorde’s discography contains a variety of topics for all types of moods. Since she has been in the spotlight for a long time, she has improved her songs and songwriting tremendously. Lorde is constantly reinventing her music, and I have really enjoyed watching her grow through the years as I have grown with her. Overall, Lorde is one of my favorite artists, and I’m so excited to see what the future holds for her.