Pure Heroine Lorde

The quintessential old soul in a young body, 16-year-old Ella “Lorde” Yelich-O’Connor is also a new pop archetype. On the one hand, she writes lyrics that identify her as a sensitive, wordy teenager: bursts of poetry (“Pretty soon I’ll be getting on my first plane/I’ll see the veins of my city like they do in space”) are interwoven with moody observations about her friends (on “Ribs”, she huffs: “The drink you spilled all over me/Lovers spit left on repeat”).

On the other hand, there’s a cool detachment here that’s anything but youthful. Joel Little’s minimal, xx-influenced production allows her torchy ennui to dominate every song, drenching everything in heavy-lidded disillusionment. Royals, her multi-platinum single, packs more finger-clicking disenchantment into three minutes than Lana del Rey managed in an entire album.

If the “Lorde” persona isn’t just a record-label construct (who thought up that double-meaning album title, by the way?), it bodes well.

Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian