MC: Whatever works, right? Do you work with a vocal coach?
Lorde: I have worked with a vocal coach in the past, when I was like 13 or 14. I had a year’s worth of singing lessons, which was so valuable and incredible, it was so awesome. But yeah, I don’t have that anymore.
MC: Let’s talk about your stage name—Lorde. It’s rather powerful with a playful blend of masculinity and femininity. Do you think your music reflects those same mystic qualities?
Lorde: Yeah, for sure. I’m glad that you picked up on that kind of weird, sort of mist on feminism. There’s some fight in the name, which I think is cool. I think it’s kind of reflected in how I dress. Sometimes I’ll dress kind of androg-ynously. Even in the way I perform. Sometimes with my music, I like to keep it quite broad… it could be a girl, it could be a boy. I like to kind of keep things faceless sometimes, which is cool. I’m really glad I picked that name. It feels like a really honest reflection of who I am and the music and stuff.
MC: We recently read that you didn’t want to release any new songs or material until you were completely happy with the music. When did you realize you were fully satisfied with the songs on Pure Heroine?
Lorde: Pure Heroine actually kind of came together quite painlessly. There was a bunch of stuff that we wrote that shouldn’t make the album. But song by song I sort of knew which ones would go on there and which ones wouldn’t. I can’t really remember… We just got to a point where we started assembling the track list. It was important to me that it was a 10-track record, because I think there’s something really cool about a really concise, clean, good, cohesive collection of songs. I’m not a big fan of weird filler. I was pretty set on the songs I knew I wanted on the album. Once they were all written, we just put them in place so there was a feel of continuous connection.
MC: Are you working on anything right now––any new projects?
Lorde: Yeah. I’ve been writing so much at the moment. I think being alone in your hotel room at night provides such a blank canvas you just sort of end up being creative. People have also been reaching out for collaborations, which is very cool.
MC: Do you have any advice for other young artists out there trying to make it in the industry today?
Lorde: Try to develop your craft and get better at it and make cool stuff independently. Put everything on the line and get some attention that way. Because when I think about “dropping a demo tape,” I don’t know if they work so well these days. The record company will respond to––people will respond to––what you’re doing. A good way of getting noticed is to just go about doing what you do. Then when you’ve got a bit of a following and you’ve got some music that’s really cool, you will have the inspiration to look around.
MC: Finally, what are your thoughts on the future of pop music?
Lorde: [Laughs] I don’t know––pop is at this crazy place at the moment where I feel anything could happen. It definitely feels like [the music] will kind of come back into the hands of young people in a way. So it feels promising, but I don’t know!
MC: Guess we’ll just see what happens.
Lorde: For sure. There are obviously so many facets to what’s going on. I’ve found myself recently just not being shocked by anything. I said to someone the other day that if someone were to have sex onstage at an awards show, it probably wouldn’t be too shocking. Pop’s a strange place.
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