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Plus One
The 11 best Lorde songs
Ahead of her UK tour in November, we count down the 11 best tracks from the New Zealand singer-songwriter
Who can forget Lorde’s breakout, when ‘Royals’ dominated radio for months and its 16-year-old creator was hailed as a musical prodigy? They weren’t far off – now gearing up to release her fourth studio album, Lorde has proven time and time again that she is a force not to be underestimated. From the youthful rebellion of Pure Heroine, to the artsy melancholy of Melodrama, to the sun-soaked spirituality of Solar Power, Lorde is blessed with an ability to reinvent herself without ever losing that unique something that has crowned her many people’s ‘Queen of Alternative’. As we look forward to her UK tour this November, we’re also looking back through Lorde’s discography to find her 11 best songs to date.
11. ‘Tennis Court’
(Pure Heroine, 2013)
The second single from Pure Heroine had an impossible hype to live up to. It doesn’t try to be another ‘Royals’ – although it does follow similar themes, Lorde swaps the nursery-esque melodies for a track that drips with tension, her quick lyricism done justice by the alt-pop production and low, tremulous synths. On only her second major single Lorde is already complaining about the vacuousness of the industry, romanticising her hometown and predicting her own teen-star meltdown. It’s the self-awareness people loved in her first single – and that still serves her well to this day – presented in a more interesting sonic package.
10. ‘Secrets From A Girl (Who’s Seen It All)’
(Solar Power, 2021)
Solar Power evokes nostalgia across the record – no one track more so than ‘Secrets From A Girl’, which sees Lorde speaking directly to her younger self. The singer has called ‘Secrets From A Girl’ a response to the Pure Heroine track ‘Ribs’ (we’ll get to that one) and it succeeds beautifully as a conversation across time, sincerely written and drenched in the sunny, free-spirited sonics Lorde mastered on Solar Power. The closing monologue is a tad jarring, but just tongue-in-cheek enough that it doesn’t detract.
9. ‘White Teeth Teens’
(Pure Heroine, 2013)
A great deal of Pure Heroine’s charm comes from that distinctly teenage sentiment that everyone around you is a poser. Lorde is so eloquent in her delivery of this sentiment that she manages to make it endearing, and ‘White Teeth Teens’ is a great example. It sees the then-teenager describing her inability to fit in with the preppy, popular kids in her hometown – they have a quality that she’ll never be able to imitate. The track’s doo-wop influences and the layered vocals in the chorus play into this preppy theme, with the outro stripping away all instrumental beyond a choir of Lorde’s distorted vocals.
8. ‘Dominoes’
(Solar Power, 2021)
“I hear that you were doing yoga with Uma Thurman’s mother just outside of Woodstock” is an opening lyric that inspires follow up questions. Just two minutes long, ‘Dominoes’ is as carefree of a middle finger as it’s possible to throw. It depicts a man who turns to new-age practices to appear enlightened, without bothering to examine his own toxicity. The lazy electric guitar and distant sounds of traffic make it all feel like an impromptu street performance.
7. ‘Writer In The Dark’
(Melodrama, 2017)
One of Melodrama’s more devastating moments, ‘Writer In The Dark’ sees Lorde lament the breakdown of a relationship and blame herself for being too much. The tempered, confessional verses pull you in, but it’s that falsetto in the chorus that delivers the gut punch. Lorde finds a flexibility and emotional resonance in her voice not demonstrated on Pure Heroine, working in gorgeous harmony with the sympathetic strings.
6. ‘Ribs’
(Pure Heroine, 2013)
The best track on Lorde’s debut album, and possibly one of the best coming-of-age songs ever written. Joyfully authentic, the highs and lows of being 16 are laid out here, over a thumping bass and eagerly humming synths. Lorde finds herself unable to enjoy just being a teenager, as she’s already anticipating how sad it’ll be to age out of this point in her life. The slow build of the track over that constant heartbeat, never quite going where it promises, is both euphoric and anxiety-inducing, and Lorde’s existentialism both nostalgic and unsettling. Do we ever really stop feeling like this?
5. ‘Solar Power’
(Solar Power, 2021)
Lorde’s sunny call to the shore is hard to refuse. The lead single and titular track on Solar Power, it sees the singer whisper-singing over picked guitar, before slowing guiding us towards a big folk-pop chorus. She takes a while to get there, espousing the merits of summer and sea as the instrumental builds to a hazy, psychedelic party on the beach. It’s indie-pop perfection, nostalgic and completely unique, with a soft dose of humour and a ton of sunshine. That gentle instruction to “blink three times when you feel it kicking in”? Irresistible.
4. ‘Green Light’
(Melodrama, 2017)
Melodrama opener ‘Green Light’ is a rousing indie-pop crowd-pleaser that sees Lorde begging for permission to move on after a breakup. The singer-songwriter delivers her own brand of dance pop on a track that takes unexpected but always satisfying turns, her songwriting shining over a clap beat and (of course) plenty of synths. ‘Green Light’ is perhaps the best demonstration of Lorde’s ability to create a radio hit that sounds nothing like anything else on the radio. Only just entering her 20s and working under the immense pressure of a follow-up to Pure Heroine, ‘Green Light’ is phenomenal proof of her powers.
3. ‘The Man With The Axe’
(Solar Power, 2021)
A dreamy, slow offering from Solar Power, ‘The Man With The Axe’ is relatively stripped-back, largely just Lorde and her voice at the piano, although still with the distant psychedelic riffs that make it fit in the sonic identity of the album. Initially a poem, the track is verbose and confessional, much more about the lyrics than the sonics – although it hits the ear beautifully, velvety and romantic. Lorde’s return to New Zealand and re-examination of her years in the industry is the dominant theme across the record, and here she explores it deeply, figuring out what’s actually real to her. “I thought I was a genius, but now I’m 22 / And it’s starting to feel like all I know how to do is put on a suit and take it away,” she sings.
2. ‘Liability’
(Melodrama, 2017)
This ballad from Lorde’s sophomore album manages to be both deeply confessional and expertly put. ‘Liability’ doesn’t waste words – it cuts straight to the heart of Lorde’s loneliness, and sees her bluntly and beautifully explain everything that hurts her about fame. The production largely consists just of Lorde at her piano, with a brief appearance from some melodic synths. The song ends on an ominous note, with Lorde predicting some kind of fiery end to her career, as she did on Pure Heroine. The anxieties of intimacy and notoriety are so perfectly captured that ‘Liability’ would no doubt top the list if Lorde were a little less expert at her own brand of upbeat indie pop. As it stands, however…
1. ‘Supercut’
(Melodrama, 2017)
Nothing else in Lorde’s discography screams ‘lightning in a bottle’ quite like ‘Supercut’. Lorde reflects back on key memories of a relationship in this synth pop anthem, which repackages heartbreak into a bass-thumping, spine-tingling good time. Over the course of the song, Lorde realises that the good memories she has can’t exist without the bad ones, and the track ends in a despondent place, as the drums fade out, and the riff becomes distorted, giving way to melancholy piano chords. Introspective, story-driven, infectious and incredibly catchy, ‘Supercut’ does what all the best pop music does: it succeeds as both pop and art.
Lorde’s Ultrasound tour comes to the UK this November – find tickets here
