http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader...nd-thats-great
Lorde is dominating everything and that's great
Posted by Miles Raymer on 10.15.13 at 04:07 PM
When I first wrote about Lorde a little while ago I predicted that she might be able to take advantage of the distraction provided by Katy Perry and Lady Gaga's Clash of the Pop Divas that at the time was threatening to go nuclear to slip her basically perfect (but not especially flashy) single "Royals" into the top spot on the Hot 100. At the time it felt like wishful thinking, but here we are six weeks later and Gaga's getting her ass beat by a novelty EDM song by a Norwegian comedy duo, a tamed "Roar" seems perfectly comfortable in the number two spot, and "Royals" is completely inescapable: it's number one on the Hot 100, number three on the Billboard 200 album chart, and at the top of the On-Demand Songs, Digital Songs, and six of the charts in the Rock section, as well as decent placement on the other Pop charts (although Perry's beating her there). The situation's gotten to the point where not hearing the song is a challenge—the other day when I was on the back patio of a bar one of the neighbors blasted it through their window on repeat five times through in a row. (And no one on the patio seemed to mind until the fourth time or so.)
Since then I've become full-blown addicted (no pun intended) to Lorde's debut album Pure Heroine, which with each listen I become a little more convinced is one of the top two or three albums of the year, so I think this current situation is perfect. She's an incredible songwriter and lyricist, with a special talent for nailing the blend of angst, ennui, and occasional burst of unbridled optimism that typify the teenage state of mind. (The opening line, "Don't you think that it's boring how people talk?," from "Tennis Court" kills me every time.) And the skill for perfectly minimalist arrangements that she and Joel Little show off so well on "Royals" runs through the entire record.
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