LogFAQs > #955100004

176. Lorde Royals (2013)
from the album Pure Heroine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlcIKh6sBtc

Key lyrics:
Ive never seen a diamond in the flesh

Growing up, I was never the biggest fan of pop music. A genre designed to be as catchy as possible, I found much of it to be literally headache-inducing. It takes true talent to craft a pop song that stops just short of being annoying. At age sixteen, Lorde seemed to be just as annoyed when she penned Royals. Both lyrically and sonically, this was an assault on mainstream pop that nevertheless achieved unlikely success. Several teen pop stars have shot into the spotlight over the years, but few felt so convincingly dismissive of her contemporaries Lorde stepped onto the scene to show us how to do pop music right.

While The xx set the stage for a minimalist movement in the indie scene four years earlier, Lorde proved mainstream viability with Royals. The instrumentation is sparse, enough to be catchy in the moment but never linger like so many unwanted ear worms. Her vocals are strong but avoid extravagance. Like Amy Winehouse before her, Lorde comes across with an air of authenticity in a medium largely defined by excessive glamour. Few songs have had such an immediate impact the best pop hits became a lot mellower as the decade continued. I listen to quite a bit more pop these days, and not due to a personal change of heart. Pop changed, and Royals is the clearest turning point.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/