Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor professionally famous as Lorde is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, and record producer. She signed with the Universal Music Group in her early teens and was later paired with Joel Little.
Early life, Age, and Career
Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor a.k.a Lorde was born on 7 November 1996 in Takapuna, Auckland to Sonja Yelich and Vic O’Connor. She was raised in nearby Devonport, Auckland along with her two sisters Jerry and India, and brother Angelo. Lorde became interested in performing in childhood.
Lorde attended Vauxhall School and later Belmont Intermediate School. She joined a drama group and developed her public speaking skills at the age of five.
In 2012, at the age of sixteen, she released her first extended play The Love Club EP, which reached number two on the national record charts in both New Zealand and Australia.
In 2014, she was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for her soundtrack in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.
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How Old is Lorde?
Born on November 7, 1996, she is 25 years of age in 2022.
2009-11: Career Beginnings, Songs & Albums
Lorde and musician friend Louis McDonald won the Belmont Intermediate School annual talent show as a duo in May 2009. They got invited in for a chat on Jim Mora’s show on Radio New Zealand where they performed covers of Pixie Lotts' Mama Do (UH OH, UH OH) and Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody.
Lorde was also a part of the Belmont Intermediate School band extreme. While working on her music career Lorde attended Takapuna Grammar School from 2010 to 2013, completing Year Twelve.
In 2011, Lorde took singing lessons twice a week for a year from Frances Dickinson. She began writing songs and started reading short fiction and learning how to put words together.
Lorde performed her own original song at The Vic Unplugged III at the Devonport Victoria Theatre on 16 November 2011 for the first time. In December 2011, Lorde was paired with Joel Little who is a songwriter, record producer, and former Goodnight Nurse lead singer. They recorded five songs for an EP at Little’s Gold Age Studios in Morningside, Auckland.
2012- 2015: Pure Heroine and The Hunger Games Soundtrack
In 2012 November, Lorde released the record entitled The Love Club Ep for free download. UMG commercially released the EP for sales in March 2013, after being freely downloaded 60,000 times.
She released her debut single Royals in 2013. It became an international crossover hit reaching number one on many charts and making her the youngest solo artist to achieve a number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 since 1987. She won the 2013 APRA Silver Scroll Award, two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance, and song of the year at the 56th Annual Grammy.
Lorde’s debut album 'Pure Heroine' got positive reviews following her top-ten single Team which topped the national charts in New Zealand and Australia, reaching number three on the U.S Billboard 200. The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Lorde signed a publishing deal with Songs Music Publishing worth $2.5 million in November 2013. By her 18th birthday in 2014, Lorde was estimated to be worth NZ$10 million. She has also been featured on Magnets a track on Disclosure’s second album Caracal.
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2016-present: Melodrama
Lorde performed Life on Mars at the 2016 Brit Awards, in tribute to the late English singer David Bowie.
On 2 March, Lorde revealed the title of her second album Melodrama. And on 9th March, she released a new song from the album Liability. She revealed all the 11 tracks of the album in May.
Lorde released her second album Melodrama on 16 June 2017, with Green Light as its lead single. It topped number one in New Zealand and Australia, topping the U.S Billboard 200. It also received a nomination at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony for Album of the Year.
Artistry
Influences
Lorde grew up listening to musicians Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Etta James, and Otis Redding along with her parents’ favorite records by Cat Stevens, Neil Young, and Fleetwood Mac.
Lorde takes Thom Yorke as an influence for his ‘smart’ way of using the voice, and Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj for their ‘sassy’ tone. Her others inspiration comes from Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, Rihanna, Kanye West, James Blake, and many more.
She takes her mother as the main influence for her songwriting. Lorde stated that Frank Ocean’s 2016 album inspired her to experiment with using an ‘Anti-chorus’.
Music style
Lorde’s music is described as art pop, dream pop, indie pop, electropop, and indie-electro. Her music was also compared to that of Sky Ferreira and Eliza Doolittle by Paul Lester from the Guardian.
Lorde performed with a mezzo-soprano vocal range on ‘Royals’ however, she is an alto. She also mentioned that she does not play any musical instrument while on stage because of the main focus of her voice.
Lester described Lorde's voice as ‘sweet, sultry and sour’, while James Lancho from The Daily Telegraph described it as ‘Twitchy electro’. Kevin McFarland wrote in an article for The A.V. Club that Lorde’s voice is the alpha and omega of her talent. Having the presence and vocal development of singers twice her age sets her songs apart from those in pop music as they do not fit a major or minor chord.
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Controversy
Following an online campaign by Palestinian solidarity activists supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction campaign in December 2017, Lorde canceled her scheduled June concert in Israel. The cancellation of her Israeli tour was welcomed by Palestinian activists and supporters, however, were criticized by pro-Israel group and supporters including Shalom Kiwi and the actress Roseanne Barr.
American rabbi Shmuley Boteach paid for a full page in the Washington Post with the headline ‘Lorde and New Zealand ignore Syria to attack Israel’ calling her a ‘bigot’.
Actors, writers, directors, and musicians including Roger Waters, John Cusack, Angela Davis, Mark Ruffalo, and Viggo Mortensen defending Lorde’s stand issued a joint letter to the Guardian.
Later Lorde was scheduled to perform in Maimi and Tampa Bay in April 2018. Floridian lawmaker Randy Fine called for the cancelation of the concert in Florida saying ‘Lorde joined the boycott in December, she and her companies because subject to that statute’.
Awards and nominations
At the 2013 ceremony, Lorde won four New Zealand Music Awards. Lorde received two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year and New Zealand APRA Silver Scroll Awards. At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, Melodrama received a nomination for Album of the year. She also won two Billboard Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Award, and Three World Music Awards.
Net worth and salary
The Devonport-based singer who emerged from obscurity to international stardom has a net worth of $16 million, however, her salary is under review.
Her bulk earning comes from the sales of 2.7 million copies of her album and a combined 17 million singles, and more than 10 million for Royalties. In 2016, Lorde purchased a house worth $2.84 million in Herne Bay, Auckland.
The relationship, past affairs of Lorde
Lorde was in a relationship with photographer James Lowe. The two started dating in 2013 and split in 2016. The reason behind the split is not clear however Lorde’s single Greenlight was dedicated to her ex-boyfriend.
Besides, she was also rumored of dating American singer Jack Antonoff, however, Jack denied the allegation.
Except for this, there is no other information regarding her past affairs, relationship, marriage, or divorce. She seems to be focused on her career rather than including these kinds of stuff.
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