Lorde - Pure Heroine

16 year old Kiwi Ella Yelich-O'Connor has come from absolutely nowhere (or, as some call it, New Zealand) and started racking up #1 singles all over the world. What's more, she's done it with her debut. The buzz might not quite be as word-of-mouth as that of the last colossal rise to fame (Lana del Rey), but rather word-of-chart, and that both puzzles and alarms me.

With all sorts of praise flying around like "the most vocally striking and lyrically thought-provoking" female vocalist around and claims that she "comes pretty close to birthing a ‘Common People’ for Generation Y" (good GOD how misdirected he is) it would be pretty fair to say that people are only setting her up for a fall.

Right from the word go the world of Lorde is a joyless place. "Don't you think that it's boring how people talk?" she begins on 'Tennis Court', a moody, quiet ball of catchy vocal hooks and pouting. The production is one of newcomer Joel Little's best here, a little somewhere between hip hop and Grimes-influenced dark wave. The reason that works for acts like CharlI XCX, though, is that they're strong songwriters and interested in making pop music: here, Lorde lets every moment of nothingness sit there and grow. Take the intro to 'Ribs', a repeatedly restarting synthloop that, like a stalling car, just won't go anywhere. Or 'Team', which occasionally has rays of sun shine through on an anti-dance track ("I'm kinda over being told to throw my hands in the air, so there" would've been a wonderful sentiment indeed had it not been expressed so churlishly) but otherwise sounds like an angry poet revelling in her audience's stunned/bored silence.

The two tracks that stand out the most to me are '400 Lux', a remarkably fresh production that makes the best of a screeching, swirling noise as its hook and burning, one-note synths. Then, of course, there's 'Royals' - the finger-clicking meme that's now grown to be as irritatingly ubiquitous as Anna Kendrick's Cups song. But it broke through for reasons, and those are its pretty vocal harmonies and overwhelming sentiment of "we don't care". In fact, when she ditches the darkness she can be quite endearing: she's reminiscent of Ellie Goulding on the closing double-punch of 'White Teeth Teens' and 'A World Alone'. The former is a constant slap of tambourines and melodic vocals, whilst on the album closer she even lets a guitar make an appearance and build something as equally striking and lovely as her home nation's recent TV export Top of the Lake.

For all the prettiness, though, there's a struggle to make a unique impression upon the listener. Goulding comparisons just about ruin 'Buzzcut Season' when just about everything on Halcyon is making this track look like imitation. Some might protest that she stands out lyrically, but really, such as on 'Glory and Gore', she reeks of melodrama. "Let me in the ring, I'll show you what that big word means" she brags - and in a way, that's the most off-putting thing about her. Her constant need to prove herself and come out fighting: it returns on 'Still Sane', where she aims to not be just another teen fad that ends up with substance abuse ("I'm little, but I'm coming for the crown")

I can't help but look past the fact that this is another of the Lana del Rey-styled "she's not like all the other popstars!" marketing campaigns. I get, of course, that around 75% of the people I review have been subject to similar boardroom meetings, but there's usually at least a sense of intrigue about them. She's a touch cocky, too. Her readiness to trash talk her contemporaries is disparaging (although obviously instigated by the media), and ultimately this album is only being held up in such high regard because it's a high profile example of music that isn't EDM. Give it a year and this'll most likely be forgotten, and she'll be penning dull ballads for Rihanna. Plenty of other female musicians are out there putting across messages that aren't all about being sexualised or second rate, and the fact that albums by Zola Jesus, VV Brown and Torres are all going overlooked whilst people lap this crap up and call it revolutionary is frustrating. Also, please don't use this as representative of what it means to be young right now. Not all of us are quite as fucking whiney.

Rating: 4.5/10
Highlights: 400 Lux; Royals; A World Alone; Tennis Court
Avoid: Team; Ribs; Still Sane; Glory and Gore

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