YMMV / Lorde

• Contested Sequel:
  • Melodrama has caused a rift between fans who prefer the unusual, fresh style of Pure Heroine to the more mainstream style of the new album and fans who are fine with it. Some vocal disgruntled fans have accused Lorde of "selling out", while others have argued that artists are free to pursue whatever style they want and Lorde was going through a difficult time while making the album. There is next to no middle ground between both camps.
  • Again with Solar Power. Some fans believe that it’s a fresh, new, imaginative sound with a complex message about fame and stardom, while others hate the new direction and think that Lorde’s complaints about her celebrity status make her sound like an entitled millionaire with first-world problems. Again, there’s little to no overlap between the two camps. Unlike Melodrama, which received massive critical acclaim, Solar Power got mixed reviews, inciting more drama in the fanbase.
• Cult Classic: While it's hard to call Melodrama an Acclaimed Flop as it did debut at #1, it only sold a tiny fraction of the units that Pure Heroine did and lacked a hit anywhere near the level of "Royals" or even "Team". However, it's massive critical acclaim have managed to find her an adoring, if nichier, indie audience than the much wider pop and alternative-rock based audiences she saw with her previous release.
• Even Better Sequel: How Melodrama was perceived by critics.
• Funny Moments: The fact that "The Louvre" gets its title from these lines, delivered in the most simultaneously casual yet sincere way possible:
  "But we're the greatest, they'll hang us in the Louvre"
  "Down the back, but who cares? Still the Louvre."
• Gateway Series: Lorde has served as a gateway for people looking for an 'alternative' to standard pop music, leading to them discovering acts such as Lana Del Rey, Ellie Goulding, Charli XCX, Lykke Li, Banks, et cetera, hence why she's been called a...
• Genre Turning Point: Todd in the Shadows called Lorde in general and "Royals" specifically "the shockwave that destroyed everything" for the impact that she had on the pop music landscape, joking that, as a fan of the larger-than-life Idol Singers who she displaced, he should hate her legacy as much as fans of Hair Metal hate that of Kurt Cobain. Specifically, she took the Darker and Edgier alt-pop sound pioneered by Lana Del Rey and made chart-topping mainstream singles with it, heralding a backlash against the Synth-Pop and club anthems that ruled the pop landscape in the late '00s and early '10s, a point that was driven home by the lyrics of "Royals" directly criticizing many of the prevailing trends in pop.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: She's a hometown hero in her native New Zealand, but the United States is by far her biggest market. Pure Heroine sold over two million units there, and "Royals" spent a whopping nine weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 compared to the three weeks it spent on top of the RIANZ charts.
• Heartwarming Moments: If you watched the U.S. version of "Royals", you wouldn't have seen the truly thoughtful things Lorde said in the description of the video, where she expresses a real appreciation both for her friends, her fans, and the simple life she sang about.
  lately i've been waking up at 4 or 5 a.m., turning things over in my head. so much to think about, so much to break down and process and decide. i'm only at the beginning, but it has always been important to me that everything feels cool, feels right. this song means a hell of a lot to me, and to others, and i guess what i tried to do is make something you could understand. a lot of people think teenagers live in this world like 'skins' every weekend or whatever, but truth is, half the time we aren't doing anything cooler than playing with lighters, or waiting at some shitty stop. that's why this had to be real. and i'm at that particular train station every week. those boys are my friends. callum's wearing a sweater that used to belong to me. so it all feels right, and i can sleep. thanks for being with me all the way so far — so much to come, such great heights. i'm just getting started. enjoy xx
  FEAT. ROBBIE, CALLUM, HADLEY, ABRAHAM. DIRECTED BY JOEL KEFALI. PRODUCED BY AMBER EASBY
• Hollywood Homely: Being an Unkempt Beauty early on unfortunately got her some unflatting comparisons to her more glamorous pop star contemporaries, perhaps an obvious indicator (if not the only one) why there's been a particularly sour relationship with the press throughout her career. Solar Power, in contrast, has reached memetic levels for it's pants-less cover of Lorde, and her press releases and interviews for the album have gotten notice for her sudden Ms. Fanservice appearance.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Ya ya ya ya ya, I am Lorde, ya ya ya!
  • Lorde herself thought that joke was hysterical, eventually leading her to do her own impression of it.
  • Jokes abound came from the cover Solar Power, due to it being a shot of Lorde's ass.
• Narm Charm: The "I'm kinda like a prettier Jesus" line from "Solar Power" is easily one of Lorde's most talked-about individual lyrics, seen by many as being ridiculous, yet just ridiculous enough to be hilariously endearing.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The "Tennis Court" video, which is nothing more than Lorde staring at you in a creepy outfit.
  • The high amount of Kubrick Stare in both "Royals" videos. Particularly jarring in the US version from her as they're usually blink and you'll miss it, and the teen boys in the Kiwi version, one of whom twists his lips to the left in a fashion that is just wrong.
• Periphery Demographic: She's had surprising crossover success with the rock community, many of her songs have placed high on the rock charts and she gets pretty consistent airplay on modern rock/alternative stations.
• Refrain from Assuming: Her Disclosure collaboration is not "Let's Embrace The Point of No Return"; it's called "Magnets".
• Signature Song: "Royals.", easily her most famous track and generally viewed as one of the key turning points in the pop-music landscape of the mid-10's, though choice Melodrama singles like "Green Light" and "Perfect Places" certainly compete with this title with her loyal fanbase even if they're less widely known.
• Song Association: "Glory and Gore" was released as a single due to the exposure it got from being used to promote The History Channel show Vikings.
• Squick: The teenager bleeding from the mouth (presumably from a boxing injury) in the "Royals" music videos.
• Tough Act to Follow: Generally viewed as why Solar Power has gotten a bit of a So Okay, It's Average reception. While fans have warmed up to it more so than the critics, where the former often argue it's more mellow, Lighter and Softer tone is the point and not necessarily meant to be taken at face value, others view it as rather thematically scattershot (some would say just vague) and far less musically immediate and adventurous than Melodrama especially that it suffers considerably in comparison.

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