Pure Heroine by Lorde free essay sample

The world was taken by storm when Lorde emerged, the throaty, tough eyed heroine behind the summer smash hit of 2013, â€Å"Royals.† You might also know her as the agitated buzz behind The Hunger Games’s â€Å"Yellow Flicker Beat,† or the sullen muse at the center of â€Å"Tennis Court.† Lorde first debuted her voice after two EP’s, The Love Club EP and Tennis Court EP, Pure Heroine being her first full length album. A masterwork mix of sound, Lorde cements her place in the music industry as an unstoppable tour de force. The rest, of course, is history. Toppling YouTube charts and heading an army of millions on Twitter, Lorde’s sheer celebrity and presence has exploded since the public discovered her raw, pulsing talent. But it isn’t just her personality that has captured the attention of thousands. Throughout Pure Heroine’s evolution of sound, Lorde’s singer-songwriting genius shines, intertwined with her taste for fresh, innovative beats. That moment when youre at a party and youre drunk and for a moment as you throw your hands in the air time ceases to exist. She captures this perfectly in her line: Were hollow like the bottles that we drain. But she then makes it more unbelievably beautiful in the most underwhelming of ways with her line: We might be hollow but were brave. Because we are. Were not just young. Were not just dumb. Were brave. Braver than we know. Honestly, its like shes reading my thoughts. Its like she has gone to my school. And you know she captures the spirit of empty, rebellious teens so well? Shes 16 years old. It bothers me when reviewers say she has surprising depth for a teenager. Because whos to say we dont have depth? Tennis Court may be one of her more popular songs, but that does not mean for one second it is not one of the best things Ive ever heard. In 400 Lux, she captures the utter nothingness, the utter emotional emptiness of millennials, in teens, but in Tennis Court, she captures t he rebellious side of that. My favorite line is: Its a new art form showing people how little we care. I love that. Because were expected to care about all this s***- s*** that yes, in the end, as she silently acknowledges, we may regret not caring about, but its so hard to care about it all. Being good little children. All those little daily things- being quiet when the adult tells you to be quiet. Answering endless questions on endless pieces of paper. Keeping your mouth shut because youre to young to count. And we just dont care. We care so little. We feel so little. Tennis Court also has that element of James Dean coolness, that element of swag, that element of slick sexiness, which makes it perfect. I love in her song Ribs when she talks about fears of getting old. Many people ignore it as the fears of growing old is a rather much used subject, but, whether we like to admit it or not, our youth is something we value, something we love. For a while, it is a part of our identity , and when youre young, even if you are emotionally empty and depressed and you party and maybe the people you love wont matter when you get old, you shine. Then you grow up and get a job and have kids and you forget about these cares. Its hard to let go of who we are. Before I finish up this review, Id like to acknowledge two more songs together, as they are very similar, though one is from her previous album, the Love Club. These two songs are The Love Club and White Teeth Teens. Both these songs are about that one group of handsome, beautiful, group of royals every school has. There have been different names for these types of groups at different schools, for example, at my high school, its The Crew. Maybe Im wrong, but in this case, I would like to think its the name of the previous song- The Love Club. One of the best lines from this song is: Im sitting pretty on my throne, theres nothing more I want, except to be alone. She is the queen bee, the prettiest, most popular girl at her high school. Although at some time in the future, her high school popularity will mean nothing, right now she is a queen on her throne, and she appears to have everything to everyone else- looks, the popular boy, everything- but she doesnt have true happiness, and she knows this. She (to bring back this word yet again) hollow. And you know every morning she probably gets up early to make sure she looks nice, every single morning, again and again, and for what? Approval from people that 15 years will have to think to remember her name? Shes hollow. And she knows it. White Teeth Teens is like part two- describing the Love Club. Her line: Ill let you in on something big- I am not a white teeth teen. Is a rare moment of honesty. Its not like we try to lie. But when we say hahaha and lol, were not really laughing out loud. We say things even if theyre not true to make everything good because everyday being told to be quiet and everyday living for the thrill of it, is makes everythi ng seem not good. We keep cool on the outside (Were so happy- even when were smiling out of fear- Tennis Court) but its all fake. So in that moment she was real. She wasnt in the Love Club, because like she says in the next line of White Teeth Teens, being in The Love Club, being in The Crew, its in the blood. This is a reference to how rulers are often chosen because of their blood- their ancestors. In Tennis Court she says Everythings cool when were all in line for the throne and (as mentioned before) in The Love Club she talks about sitting on her throne, so she is comparing the hierarchy that is high school (That sounds rather dull- its like this. In Lord of the Flies, when left alone, a group of adolescents lose all laws of society and form a hierarchy, they let that anger, that rebellious emotional hollowness rage- and who do they put as their lord? The most attractive kid.) to a kingdom, and to truly be queen, to truly be king, it has to be in the blood- you have to be wealth y. This society is focused on wealth- youre cool if you have the most expensive phone, the most expensive shoes, the most expensive clothes. As she makes clear in Royals, she doesnt come from money, so shes only fooling herself into thinking she is truly a part of the Love Club. I will leave with this. What Lorde captures so perfectly in this masterpiece is this- Were hollow and in many ways fake. (I live in a hologram with you- holograms are unreal, fake images- Buzzcut Season)Were shallow. We party and we live for moments of empty happiness. We can be so cool, but inside, were so afraid. But we are also capable of love and extreme emotional depth, we have insight because we know the way this world works- we know it can be cruel and love can be cruel and people will sell out and sometimes there is nothing but numbness. And maybe were rebels without any cause. But were brave.