Awesome / Lorde

• The fact that "Royals" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks (knocking Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" off the spot when it looked like she was going to dominate), becoming the first New Zealander to do so, and ultimately went 7x multi-platinum in the US alone. Keep in mind, she was only 16 when this happened.
  • "Royals" also topped the US Alternative Charts, becoming the first female artist to achieve this feat since before she was born.
• Her debut album Pure Heroine, while it never topped the Billboard 200 (peaking at #3), it stayed on the top 10 for a long time, and ultimately went double platinum. (an extremely rare feat for any artist nowadays). It went on to sell three million copies worldwide. Not bad for a teenage girl from New Zealand.
• Winning the VMA for "Best Rock Video" for "Royals", becoming the first female artist to achieve this feat. While some questioned "Royals"' status as a rock song, still impressive none-the-less.
• In an interview, Lorde was asked if she would like to do a collaboration with David Guetta. She responded with this.
• Also a Funny Moment: After DJ/music producer Diplo made a mean-spirited tweet about creating a Kickstarter to "give Taylor Swift a booty", Lorde (a friend of Swift's), responded that "we should do something about your tiny penis while we're at it".
• Being chosen to curate for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack. She wasn't even an adult yet and she was chosen as the sole curator for one of the biggest blockbusters of the year.
• Her tribute to David Bowie at the BRIT Awards, with Bowie's backing band no less, performing an incredibly moving and pitch-perfect version of "Life On Mars." If Lady Gaga paid homage to Ziggy with her Grammy tribute, Lorde honored The Thin White Duke. It also helps that Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, was there and heartily approves of her performance.
• Lorde appeared on Hot Ones on July 29, 2021, and ran the gauntlet of eating all ten hot wings with the barest reactions to any of the hot sauce. She promoted Solar Power, gave thoughtful and articulate answers to all the questions, and got to the end wondering if she was being "boring" by not reacting... this while host Sean Evans is in awe that she's barely even flinching through hundreds of thousands of scovilles. For fans of that show, Lorde's episode was an instant classic.

---