MC: You admit that some of your creative ideas are pretty bizarre. But this sentiment doesn’t seem to describe the awesome relationship you have with your management team [Saiko Management]. How does your production team support such unique artistry?
Lorde: Because I’ve been working with my team (most of them) since I was, like, 12 or 13, everyone has a really good idea of who I am and the kinds of things I want to achieve. When you work with me, you realize that there are just some things that I won’t do––that I’ll never do––that a lot of people would do. I think it’s maybe because I’ve got some different ideals and different goals. There’s some stuff which I just won’t do [laughs]. So my team is really good at understanding that and opening up other people to understanding that. Then [they] find the stuff that I will do and that I’m very interested in and they make that happen.
MC: Tell us about your work in the studio. How would you describe your creative process with [producer] Joel Little?
Lorde: Joel and I have known each other now for so long and we’ve spent so much time one-on-one. Sometimes it’s like I know what he’s thinking before he even says it, which is nice. Or he’ll read a lyric that I’ve been working on and he’ll know exactly the kind of vibe I want to go for. So we’re in a nice place right now in the working relationship––it feels quite symbiotic.
MC: Do you guys head into the studio with specific arrangements and goals in mind?
Lorde: A lot of the time I’ll have something quite specific that I want to do, whether it’s a musical or lyrical thing or a certain selective thing (like a certain vibe or energy). Is it fast or does it have this graphic sort of energy or whatever… Sometimes we’ll have a specific musical idea but, I mean, we like to try out a bunch of different stuff. I think that’s how we stay interested. Like, if we made the same stuff all of the time we probably wouldn’t be making music. [Laughs] A lot of the time stuff doesn’t work, and, you know, we have to scrap it and go back to the drawing board.
MC: It’s important to have that intuitive understanding and creative connection.
Lorde: Exactly! We can really look at each other and be like, “Okay, we really screwed that up.” [Laughs]
MC: So, what is it like for you now to be performing live? This is a pretty new area for you since releasing Pure Heroine.
Lorde: Like you said, live performance is so new to me. It’s something that I’m learning so much about every time I do it. It’s crazy—I never realized just how challenging performing your own material would be. I’d been onstage a bunch when I was little––I did drama classes and all those sort of things––so I’m not a stranger to it. But now people come to a show because they want to see a different dimension of the material that they love, they really want to be able to listen to the words and process the song in a live setting. I’ve just been trying to figure out how to sort of tell stories and really engage people in a live setting. It’s been good and it’s something that I’m learning about all the time. When I go out next year and play festivals and hit the road on my own tour, it’s something that I’ll hopefully have developed more.
MC: Do you see yourself developing your personal onstage vibe and technique, or is performance just something you progressively learn over time?
Lorde: I mean, the way I perform is quite instinctive. It’s just however I feel in that moment. But with that being said, there’s some stuff that works onstage and some stuff that doesn’t. It’s kind of just trial and error for me––something I just have to figure out.
MC: MC: How do you prepare for a show? Any weird backstage superstitions or rituals?
Lorde: Well, I warm up vocally and I warm up physically. I just sort of stride around the room, and just kind of do stuff with my body. I like to put on songs backstage and flow and move. I get in the zone of “feeling” music. So, yeah, it’s a weird thing to do in front of a bunch of people. [Laughs]
