When 16-year-old New Zealander Ella Yelich-O'Connor (Lorde) appeared with Royals in 2013, the sound of global pop changed overnight. Instead of bombastic dance beats, she chose icy minimalism, subwoofers and razor-sharp poetic observations about suburban teenage life. With her masterpieces Pure Heroine and Melodrama, Lorde proved to be one of the most important and innovative pop writers of this century. Vote for your favorite Lorde song.
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Royals
The monumental debut that forever changed the course of modern pop history. With nothing more than finger snaps, a minimal 808 bass and her pitch-perfect vocal harmonies, 16-year-old Lorde coolly skewered excessive pop culture, earning well over a billion streams and two Grammy Awards.
Green Light
Her triumphant comeback single after the success of her debut. What begins as a bitter piano ballad about heartbreak explodes into wild, danceable euphoria as she begs for the proverbial green light to finally move on with her life.
Nostalgia bias is doing all the work here. Green Light is completely average.
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Ribs
An emotional cult monument that has grown into a streaming giant thanks to a new generation of listeners. The swelling synths and hypnotic vocal layers capture the paralyzing nostalgia and sheer panic about inevitably growing older.
Best song ever.
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Liability
A fragile, intimate piano ballad that cuts to the bone. Lorde sings with a lump in her throat about feeling like 'too much' for the people around her and the pain of dancing with your own reflection; one of her most beautiful lyrics ever.
The acoustic version of Liability is somehow even more emotional than the studio cut.
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Team
Her second huge global hit, an ode to her friends and her hometown. 'We live in cities you'll never see on screen' became an anthem for young people worldwide who didn't recognize themselves in the glitzy world of traditional pop.
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Supercut
Produced with Jack Antonoff, Supercut is a racing pop track about the tendency to edit a broken relationship in your head into a highlight reel; painfully honest and musically unstoppable.
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Tennis Court
Known for its famous 'Yeah' hook and deep, rumbling bass. Tennis Court captures the paralyzing fear of approaching adulthood and the sudden fame awaiting her, delivered with unmatched nonchalant cool.
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Perfect Places
The cathartic closer of her acclaimed album Melodrama. The song explores the futility of numbing sadness with drinking and parties in search of perfect places that simply don't exist, culminating in a thundering stadium chorus.
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The Love Club
One of the earliest gems from her debut EP. Over a bouncing synth beat, Lorde sings with ironic detachment about the temptations and suffocating social pressure of belonging to the popular clique at high school.
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Solar Power
The sun-drenched, relaxed title track of her third album. Lorde trades dark club beats for acoustic guitars, tambourines and birdsong in a summer anthem radiating pure warmth and a carefree hippie feel.
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The monumental debut that forever changed the course of modern pop history Set the gold standard for the whole genre.