LORDE INTERVIEW: "I have a vision, Harry Styles needs to call me"🔮

Sending you some of my favourite pieces from the SYSCA vault, because I love you ❣️

Mar 05, 2023

My angels! You’re getting something a lil 𓆩♡𓆪 different 𓆩♡𓆪 today!! I’ve been doing a bit of looking back on some of the old interviews and articles we used to post on Shit You Should Care About’s website (we used to have a blog, it was cute) and some of them really do still stand up!

Even though the blog no longer exists - I think this writing should - so I thought it would be cute to do a lil 2023 edit on some of these (a bunch of them are from as far back as 2018) and send them out to you. Because you’re worth it!

Rubes, Liv and I went to watch Lorde perform (for the third time) on Saturday so it only felt right that I re-shared this interview we got to do with her back in 2021. She is the light of our lives and the soundtrack to our teenage years, so I hope you can feel the fangirl-ness in all of this. Love u the fuckin most ♡

(This interview was first published on August 20, 2021.)

Ella: Thank you so much for doing this guys. So exciting! So nice to meet you! I'm Ella, and I'm so impressed by the platform that you guys are building. It's very cool, and if I were on Instagram I would definitely be following you. [2023 edit, she now does follow us.]

Luce: Honestly, that's the best plug we could have ever asked for.

Rubes: Best phantom follow ever.

Luce: Anyway, enough about us. How are you? You've just done a huge day I'm assuming?!

Ella: Massive. So big. But I'm really excited, I’m housing a Red Bull, I just had a spoonful of nut butter, the brain is firing.

Luce: The girl is on! I should start by saying that we are not experts at pretty much anything, except for maybe being fans of stuff. So full disclosure, we love you and what you do, and we're not objective about it.

Ella: Aw! No, thank you!

Quick Fire Questions

Luce: Were you actually stoned at a nail salon?

Ella: Not only was I stoned at a nail salon, but it's something of a regular occurrence for me. Because it's a long period of time you know? It’s a nice little window to get a buzz on - especially if you’re mani-ing and pedi-ing.

Rubes: Do you still like hotels? Or has that changed?

Ella: Ah, a little throwback from the OG’s! I actually do still really like hotels. I'm all in on the hotels. It's a lovely vibe. Someone making your bed for you at like 6pm - how gorgeous?

Liv: Have you grown out of the music you loved at 16? What was that music?

Ella: I don’t know if I’ve grown out of it, but I think what you want out of music at that age is very specific. And that can change over time. I feel like at 16 I loved Arcade Fire. I mean, I still love them to be honest. I loved James Blake and Watch the Throne. I do feel like I wanted everything to be really loud, and to like, kick the shit out of my ears.

Liv: It’s like you just want to drown in your emotions, right?

Ella: Yeah! You couldn't make music loud enough for me.

Luce: Okay, I'm assuming it's gonna be a ‘yes,’ but have you ever seen a diamond in the flesh?

Ella: I have seen some very nice diamonds. They've never belonged to me, but I have seen them.

Rubes: And what is your favourite song you've ever written?

Ella: Oh, truuuuuuuuuue. Fuck.

Rubes: No pressure.

Luce: Extreme pressure.

Ella: I actually ride hard for Supercut. I reckon that song is sick.

Liv: Would you rather be able to create your art without the fame and everything that comes with it? Or have you sort of embraced that side of things?

Ella: No, I think when you make pop music, the audience involvement is at least half of the piece of art. Audience involvement is really important to me. If I were making another genre of music, maybe it would be less imperative. But no, as scary as it is. I feel like being in conversation with an audience helps me to see my work clearer and therefore make better work.

Liv: I think that's a really beautiful way to think about it.

The Music

Luce: Speaking of music - you do have an album coming out, which I was lucky enough to hear yesterday and - full fan mode - I fucking loved it. It really felt like it wasn't talking up to us or down to us, it was sort of omnipresent, like, in the environment. What was the intention with this album?

Ella: That's so nice! First of all, I wish I could have been there to shepherd you through it, but I guess that's a really good way of putting it. That's totally my intention for it. I almost wanted to take myself out of it. Like, I didn't want it to feel like me interpreting the world, so any way I could remove myself, I wanted to. As weird as that sounds.

I feel like Melodrama was very me, whereas this is like, ‘I am but a speck on this big, beautiful planet's surface.’

Luce: Not the saviour, just on the path, right?

Ella: Yes, totally. I'm just doing my thing and trying to transmit the wisdom that I learned along the way.

Luce: Honestly, it really shines through.

Ella: That’s so sweet, thank you so much. I feel very held and appreciated on this Zoom. Thank you.

Rubes: That’s how we want you to feel! It’s a safe space!

Liv: You've said that this upcoming album is for your peers, for other musicians. When you write your songs do you write with relatability in mind, or is that more a by-product of us all just being human?

Ella: When I was a teenager, relatability was key for me. I wanted to speak to my peers in a way that I had never felt like anyone had spoken to me through pop music before. But honestly, as I get older, relatability is less of a concern. I feel like I'm honestly a huge nut! And the more I lean into that the cooler things get. I think this album is quite far out, it's essentially a sun worship album. And if that's weird, fair enough, you know?

Liv: It’s totally about what’s authentic to you at the time. With Pure Heroine, you could really feel that relatability was at the core of that album.

Ella: That's absolutely it.

Rubes: When it comes to creating and then releasing your music, what makes it feel like a win? Is it internal? Or is it more external such as like shareability, or being made into memes?

Ella: That is honestly a really good question. Especially with not really being online now, I feel like the one downside is that it's much harder to feel the temperature of a release or feel people's reactions as they're happening. It also protects me from having my feelings hurt. I mean, as long as the people who are really invested in the journey of being a Lorde fan are still challenged and stimulated by the work, I’ve succeeded. I’m really making these albums now for like, the core fans. I know I'm an acquired taste.

Luce: But you’re like an acquired taste that everyone loves…

Ella: Am I the anchovy of music?

Luce: Yes! Or you're like an olive… or licorice…

Ella: Suuuup! Okay - I’m cool with that.

Shit Lorde Cares About

Luce: Now, this is quite a basic question from a media company called Shit You Should Care About, but you are very tuned in to social issues - certainly environmental issues - what is the shit that you care about right now?

Ella: Well, I mean, there's a lot, but the thing that is taking up the bulk of my brain is stuff relating to our climate crisis. It’s aggravating. There are some wins, but it's tough. What we know we need is legislative change, right? Like across the board.

For a long time I would put a huge amount of pressure on myself to be the best me, environmentally, that I could be. And while that is important, I think the personal climate footprint thing, it's kind of complicated.

I read a piece about how the term carbon footprint was basically created by or sort of publicised by an oil and gas company in order to take the heat off them, and I think we know enough now to know that all of us could be our best selves environmentally, and it still wouldn't be enough without a really hefty carbon tax.

So that's sort of where my head is at with that.

Also on the environmental side, but in a different way, and this is more of a New Zealand specific thing, Protect Pūtiki is definitely a big one that I have been following and donating to and trying to support. That’s definitely shit you should care about.

My heart is with those, especially the women, who are standing up. I wish I could be there with them.

Rubes: I feel like a lot of people from around the world see New Zealand as Narnia, and although New Zealand is obviously amazing and we're so lucky to be from here, there are definitely things that are happening within our country that people do need to know about. I'm so glad that you find that important to talk about and bring attention to.

Ella: Totally. And that's something that I've just figured out recently. People do attribute a sort of magical, mystical quality to New Zealand, and a lot of that is actually to do with Māori worldview, like, the deep connection that we feel to our land and the ways in which we are all trying to preserve our natural habitat. That's kaitiakitanga. And it’s important that we recognise and understand that.

Luce: Oh, it's extremely important. It’s so easy to look at New Zealand and think we've got all our shit together, but we have the same problems that everyone else has - it's just less public, in a way. I love that you took the time in your 73 questions with Vogue to use your platform.

Extremely… Offline?

Luce: Not to quote you back to you (which I low-key have been doing this whole interview) but back during the Pure Heroine days you said: ‘maybe the internet raised us,’ (this was in our peak tumblr, ‘we-are-the-granddaughters-of-the-witches-you-couldn’t-burn” era.) Now you’ve chosen to be waaaaay less online - why is that?

Ella: First of all, I'm sorry for abandoning my sisters, we were in it together on Tumblr, but I've since tapped out. And honestly, I'm still figuring out how to talk about this. Because it's such a privilege to be able to get yourself offline. I have an assistant who I can give my passwords to - no one has that. I know a lot of people whose jobs are literally staying plugged in!

I remember a time when I was like 16 and I was just starting to put music out, and Tumblr and Twitter were so fun for me. And it was a weird zone where you didn’t have to do it for work. I remember my team being like, oh, you're on Twitter, good on you!

And then, probably because of my job, it became a bit less like play and a bit more like work. And I think we all felt that change. It was more of a personal choice [to go offline.] I could feel my brain starting to rewire in a way that wasn't corresponding to making the kind of work that I make. You know, I need to be able to think about things in a really long-form way and I was feeling my attention span hit the wall really quickly - because of being online. I'm a sensitive flower and many other people are totally fine with being online, but it's made a huge difference in my life and my brain and to the work. So that's really why I did it.

But yeah, I miss it all the time. Like, I wish I was online. I know nothing - truly. I know no memes, I know no cultural news. I hear songs like two months late.

My 16-year-old self would be quaking.

Luce: Honestly I'm jealous! Shit You Should Care About exists because it's so toxic online and because it's so much work for people to figure out - we don’t really even have our own personal social media.

Ella: No you guys are so good. And you provide such a beautiful zone for people to go and see the right things. You're doing God's work. Honestly. I was just like: here's a cute selfie of me, here's a funny tweet.

Luce: Here’s an onion ring account…

Ella: The onion ring account is something that I still think is cool!

Rubes: Our platform is so embedded in stan culture that we would honestly be doing our followers a disservice if we didn't bring up you saying that you’d love to work with Harry Styles. Why Harry?

Ella: I just feel like he and I are kind of on a similar tip right now. He seems to be in such a flower child state of mind, or really feel the effects of the natural world on the music that he's been making. I don't know, I have a vision. I need him to call me.

Ella: Do you think as scholars of the internet that the stans would be excited by that?

Luce: Is that even a question Ella? I don’t know... but I think they might be. But if you need help publicising it, which you absolutely don't, we can help.

Ella: Good. Great. I’ll call you.

Rubes: We can always be your eyes and ears if you ever need to know whether something will work. We got you.

Ella: Okay, great. Great.

Liv: The music industry has and is still changing so drastically due to the ever-evolving nature of social media, streaming services and the internet in general. Do you feel optimistic or cynical about the relationship between music and the internet?

Ella: That's a good question. I don't know actually, like, it seems to work great for everyone out there. I just ignore the change in pace and the change in requirements. I figured out pretty quickly that you don't want to see me on TikTok. I feel like a grandmother. I'm like an old witch, you don’t want to see me trying to nail the algorithm. So I feel like I sort of ignore it. It’s truly just because I know I would suck at it.

Luce: Ella, are you saying that you don't make your whole album based off 15-second grabs that could go viral on TikTok?

Ella: Hahaha, I don't! Although it's actually really funny because an early trope of my music and something that I still do is start a song with no intro and just come in with my voice from the first second. And that has since become something that streaming services want, because it grabs the listener right at the start of a playlist or whatever. I was like, oh my god, like that's become something that has been optimised for algorithms! But it was just something that I thought was cool when I was 16.

Luce: There’s a lot of that happening, you know, the way that your music has been transformative for others. People like Olivia Rodrigo have outwardly said that they take so much from you. Is that is that a warming feeling? Do you recognise yourself when you hear other people's music or are you just, you know, humble?

Ella: I find it hard to recognise because I feel like everyone does it.

Luce: Like there are not many truly original ideas in the world?

Ella: Yeah, it's all up for grabs. And you know, I'm inspired by heaps of people! But it’s so sweet. Especially Olivia Rodrigo, she has been so sweet about me. People have sent me like, nice things that she said and it's cool to be a source of inspiration to successful young women. Gosh, it feels like yesterday that I was a teenager being inspired by people and now they’re being inspired by me! It's like a very sweet torch is being passed.

Luce: Well you have certainly inspired these three - I was gonna say young women - we're the same age though. I actually wish we could have done this in person over a bevvy!

Ella: Yes! That would have been so nice!

Rubes: When you’re back in New Zealand we’ll take you out for one.

Ella: I would love that.

Liv: See you when you’re back in the beautiful Aotearoa then, Ella!

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