Lorde facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lorde
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Lorde in 2022
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Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor
7 November 1996 Auckland, New Zealand
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| Years active | 2009–present |
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| Awards | Full list |
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| Instruments | Vocals |
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Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born November 7, 1996), known as Lorde, is a singer and songwriter from New Zealand. She is famous for her unique pop music style and songs that make you think.
Lorde first became known after performing at a talent show when she was a young teenager. She signed with Universal Music Group (UMG) in 2009. In 2011, she started working with producer Joel Little. Their first project was an extended play (EP) called The Love Club EP. It was first released for free online in 2012. Later, it was officially released in 2013.
The song "Royals" from the EP became a huge hit. It reached number one in Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the US, it stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine weeks. This song sold 10 million copies around the world, making it one of the best-selling singles ever.
Her first full album, Pure Heroine, came out in the same year. It was very popular and received great reviews. In 2014, Lorde helped create the music for the movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
Lorde worked with producer Jack Antonoff on her second album, Melodrama (2017). This album was highly praised and reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Melodrama has been listed as one of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
For her third album, Solar Power (2021), Lorde tried new styles like indie folk and psychedelic sounds. This album reached number one in Australia and New Zealand. It also made it into the top 10 in many other countries.
Lorde has won many awards, including two Grammy Awards and two Brit Awards. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Time magazine named her one of the most influential teenagers in 2013 and 2014. Forbes magazine included her in their "30 Under 30" list in 2014. Besides her own music, she has written songs for other artists. By 2017, Lorde had sold over five million albums worldwide.
Contents
Lorde's Early Life
Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor was born on November 7, 1996. Her birthplace was Takapuna, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. Her mother, Sonja Yelich, is a poet. Her father, Vic O'Connor, is a civil engineer. Lorde's mother's family came from Croatia. Her father's family is from Ireland. Her parents got engaged in 2014 after being together for 30 years. They married in 2017. Lorde has dual citizenship for both New Zealand and Croatia.
Lorde is the second of four children. She has an older sister named Jerry, a younger sister named India, and a younger brother named Angelo. They grew up in the North Shore suburbs of Devonport and Bayswater in Auckland.
When she was five, Lorde joined a drama group. This helped her become good at public speaking. Her mother encouraged her to read many different types of books. Lorde says this helped her with writing lyrics. She especially mentions the young adult novel Feed by M. T. Anderson. Authors like J. D. Salinger, Raymond Carver, and Janet Frame also inspired her songwriting.
A teacher at her school suggested that Lorde take some special tests. These tests, called the Woodcock–Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, helped find out how smart she was. The results showed that six-year-old Lorde was a gifted child. She briefly attended the George Parkyn Centre, a school for gifted children. However, her mother took her out because she was worried about Lorde's social development.
As a child, Lorde went to Vauxhall School and later Belmont Intermediate School. While at Vauxhall, she won awards in a national speech competition. In 2006, she placed third, and in 2007, she placed first. In 2009, Lorde and her team from Belmont were runners-up in the Kids' Lit Quiz World Finals. This is a global reading competition for students aged 10 to 14.
Lorde's Music Career
Starting Out (2009–2012)
In May 2009, Lorde and her friend Louis McDonald won their school talent show. In August of that year, they appeared on a radio show called Afternoons on Radio New Zealand. They sang cover songs by Pixie Lott and Kings of Leon. Louis McDonald's father sent recordings of their performances to Scott Maclachlan. He was an executive at Universal Music Group (UMG). Maclachlan then signed Lorde to UMG to help her develop her music.
Lorde was also part of a school band called Extreme. They placed third in a local "Battle of the Bands" competition in 2009. In 2010, Lorde and McDonald formed a duo called "Ella & Louis." They often performed cover songs live at local places like cafés and the Victoria Theatre.
In 2011, UMG hired a vocal coach, Frances Dickinson, to give Lorde singing lessons. During this time, Maclachlan tried to find other producers and songwriters for Lorde to work with, but it was difficult. As Lorde started writing her own songs, she learned how to "put words together" by reading short fiction.
Lorde performed her own songs for the first time in November 2011. In December, Maclachlan introduced Lorde to Joel Little. He was a songwriter and producer. They recorded five songs for an extended play (EP) in just three weeks. While working on her music, Lorde attended Takapuna Grammar School from 2010 to 2013. She decided not to go back to school in 2014 to focus on her music career.
Pure Heroine and Big Success (2013–2015)
When Lorde and Joel Little finished their first EP, The Love Club EP, Maclachlan thought it was great music. But he worried if it would be popular because Lorde was not well-known yet. In November 2012, Lorde released the EP herself for free on her SoundCloud account.
UMG officially released The Love Club in March 2013. By then, it had already been downloaded 60,000 times, showing that many people liked Lorde's music. The EP reached number two in New Zealand and Australia.
The song "Royals" from the EP made Lorde famous. It was a huge hit and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US. At 16, Lorde became the youngest artist since 1987 to have a number-one song in the United States. "Royals" won two Grammy Awards: Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year.
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Lorde's first full album, Pure Heroine, was released in September 2013. Critics loved it, and it appeared on many "best album" lists that year. The album was praised for showing what it's like to be a teenager in the suburbs. It also questioned popular culture. In the United States, the album sold over one million copies by February 2014. Pure Heroine was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. By May 2017, it had sold four million copies worldwide.
Three other songs were released from the album: "Tennis Court" reached number one in New Zealand. "Team" reached number six in the United States. "Glory and Gore" was played only on US radio.
In November 2013, Lorde signed a deal with Songs Music Publishing. This deal was reportedly worth $2.5 million. It gave the company the right to use Lorde's music in movies and advertisements. Later that month, Lorde sang a cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" for the movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Time magazine included Lorde on their list of the most influential teenagers in 2013 and 2014. Forbes magazine also put her on their "30 Under 30" list in 2014. She was the youngest person on that list. Billboard magazine included her on their "21 Under 21" list in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
In 2014, Lorde performed at several music festivals. These included the Laneway Festival in Australia and Lollapalooza in South America and California. She then started her first international concert tour in North America. Lorde also joined the remaining members of Nirvana to perform a song at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. The band members chose Lorde because they felt her songs had a similar style to Nirvana's.
Lorde also helped put together the music for the 2014 movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. She chose the songs for the album and recorded four tracks herself. One of these was the main song, "Yellow Flicker Beat". In 2015, this song earned Lorde a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Later that year, she was featured on the song "Magnets" by the British electronic duo Disclosure.
Melodrama and New Sounds (2016–2018)
In January 2016, Lorde moved to Ponsonby, a suburb in Auckland. In February, at the 2016 Brit Awards, Lorde performed a tribute to David Bowie. She sang his song "Life on Mars" with Bowie's band. Bowie's family and management chose Lorde because he admired her music. Her performance was widely praised as one of the best tributes to Bowie. Later that year, Lorde helped write "Heartlines" for the New Zealand music duo Broods.
The first song from her second album, Melodrama, was "Green Light". It was released in March 2017 and received excellent reviews. Many publications called it one of the best songs of the year. It was popular, reaching number one in New Zealand, number four in Australia, and number nine in Canada. Later that month, she helped write and sang background vocals for the song "Don't Take the Money" by the American band Bleachers.
On Melodrama, Lorde's songwriting became more mature. The songs were about personal feelings after a breakup. The album was released in June 2017 and was highly praised by critics. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Two other songs from the album were released: "Perfect Places" and a remix of "Homemade Dynamite".
To promote Melodrama, Lorde went on an international concert tour. The first part of the tour was in Europe in late 2017. She then toured North America in March 2018. In December 2017, Lorde canceled a concert she had planned in Israel. This happened after an online campaign by activists who supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Lorde said she was not aware of the political issues there and felt canceling was the right decision.
Billboard included Lorde on their "21 Under 21" list in 2017. Forbes included her in their "30 Under 30 Asia" list.
Solar Power and Recent Work (2019–Present)
On May 20, 2020, Lorde shared that she had started working on her third album with Jack Antonoff. This was after her dog, Pearl, passed away. In November 2020, she announced a book called Going South. It tells about her trip to Antarctica in January 2019 and includes photos.
On May 25, 2021, it was announced that Lorde would be a main performer at the Primavera Sound festival in June 2022. This was her first live show in over two years. On June 7, Lorde posted an image on her website that said "Solar Power" and "Arriving in 2021... Patience is a virtue."
The song "Solar Power" was released on June 10. It was the main song from her third album, also called Solar Power. The album came out on August 20, 2021. It received mixed reviews, and Lorde later said the response was "painful."
Lorde released Te Ao Mārama on September 9, 2021. This EP was a companion to Solar Power. All the songs on this EP are sung in Te Reo Māori, the Māori language. All the money from this album goes to two charities in New Zealand: Forest & Bird and Te Hua Kawariki. In August 2023, Lorde performed two new songs, "Silver Moon" and "Invisible Ink," at a festival in England.
In early 2024, Lorde started hinting about her upcoming fourth album on Instagram. She has also collaborated with other artists. In March 2024, Lorde covered "Take Me to the River" for a tribute album. In June 2024, she worked with Charli XCX on a remix of the song "Girl, So Confusing".
Lorde's Artistic Style
What Inspires Her Music
Lorde grew up listening to American jazz and soul artists like Billie Holiday and Sam Cooke. She admired how they expressed their feelings in music. She also listened to her parents' favorite records by artists such as Cat Stevens and Fleetwood Mac.
When making Pure Heroine, Lorde was inspired by electronic music producers like SBTRKT and Grimes. She liked how they used vocals in interesting ways. Lorde also said she was inspired by artists like Burial and the Weeknd who kept their identities a secret at first. She felt that "mystery is more interesting." Other artists who inspired her include Grace Jones, James Blake, and David Bowie.
Lorde says her mother, who is a poet, is the biggest influence on her songwriting. She also named several authors like Kurt Vonnegut and Sylvia Plath as inspirations for her lyrics. When writing her second album, Melodrama, Lorde was inspired by the melodies of artists like Phil Collins and Rihanna. She also listened to Frank Ocean's album Blonde, which inspired her to try new song structures.
Her Music Style and Songwriting
Lorde is known for her unique pop sound and songs that make you think. She once said, "I don't think about staying in my genre lane." Her music is often described as electropop, art pop, dream pop, and indie pop. It also has influences from hip hop. Melodrama was different from her first album. It used more piano and big electronic beats.
Before Melodrama, Lorde only sang and did not play instruments on her records or live. She felt her voice needed to be the main focus. Critics have described Lorde's voice as "unique and powerfully intriguing." For the Melodrama World Tour, she started playing a drum pad and xylophone on stage. After her tour, Lorde began learning to play the piano.
Lorde's songs often use a special musical scale called the mixolydian mode. This scale is common in blues and alternative rock music. It makes her songs sound different from typical pop songs.
When she writes songs, Lorde often starts with the lyrics. Sometimes, a single word can give her an idea for a whole song. For her song "Tennis Court," she wrote the music before the lyrics. On her first album, Pure Heroine, Lorde wrote songs from the view of someone observing the world. For Melodrama, she shifted to a first-person narrative. These songs were more personal and inspired by her own experiences after a breakup. Lorde has a condition called chromesthesia. This means she sees colors when she hears sounds. This condition influenced her songwriting on Melodrama, helping her arrange colors for each song's theme.
Giving Back: Lorde's Philanthropy
Lorde has supported several good causes. Her song "The Love Club" was part of a charity album in 2013. This album, Songs for the Philippines, helped people affected by Typhoon Haiyan. In 2015, Lorde recorded "Team Ball Player Thing" as part of a supergroup called Kiwis Cure Batten. All the money from this song went to research for a cure for Batten disease, a serious brain disorder.
Later that year, Lorde was featured on an album called The Art of Peace: Songs for Tibet II. This album raised money to help preserve Tibetan culture. In 2016, Lorde donated NZ$20,000 to Fuel the Need. This New Zealand charity provides lunches for children who need them. In 2018, she donated NZ$5,000 to Starship Hospital. This money helped buy new equipment for monitoring brain activity. In November 2018, Lorde became a patron of MusicHelps. This charity helps New Zealanders who are facing health issues.
Awards and Achievements
After becoming famous, Lorde won four New Zealand Music Awards in 2013. Her song "Royals" won the APRA Silver Scroll Award. It also won two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year. In 2015, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "Yellow Flicker Beat." Her second album, Melodrama, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Lorde has also won two Brit Awards for International Female Solo Artist. She has won two Billboard Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Award, and three World Music Awards. By June 2017, she had sold over five million albums worldwide. She also had 15 million certified single sales in the United States.
Lorde's Albums
- Pure Heroine (2013)
- Melodrama (2017)
- Solar Power (2021)
TV Appearances
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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| 2017 | Saturday Night Live | Herself | Episode: "Scarlett Johansson / Lorde" |
Concert Tours
- Pure Heroine Tour (2013–2014)
- Melodrama World Tour (2017–2018)
- Solar Power Tour (2022–2023)
Images for kids
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Lorde performing at the Victoria Theatre in 2010
See Also
In Spanish: Lorde para niños
