With only two months left in the year, I’m starting to compile my list of 2013’s best songs, which I’ll kick off in the middle of December.
I’ve never been completely satisfied with my criteria for the year-end list, but it works well enough. I limit myself to one song per album (though not per artist, if a particular artist has released multiple records) and I choose the songs that had the greatest impact on me personally, not necessarily the culture.
An argument could be made that a 2013 list lacking Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky,’ Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines,’ Miley Cyrus’ ‘We Can’t Stop’ and Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ is useless. But while I recognize the moments each of those songs had in the spotlight, I’m trying to capture my year in music, not the year in music.
Of course, in recent years there was some overlap. Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ sat atop my 2011 list, along with everybody else’s. And Gotye’s ‘Somebody I Used to Know,’ another cultural phenom, earned the #1 spot last year. But this year, as in year’s past, that won’t be the case.
Lorde’s ‘Royals’ won’t make my year-end list, either, despite its tremendous success. It is without a doubt one of the songs of the year — perhaps the song of the year — in a global sense. And I love it. But I happen to love another song on her album better, and that’s the track I’ll post in a month or so.
And now I’m free to post ‘Royals’ today.
Lorde’s Pure Heroine is a stunning debut, even more impressive given her age (17 now, 16 when the album was recorded and released). With her deep, emotive vocals and spare, rhythmic backing tracks, she reminds me of a hip-hop Fiona Apple.
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I’m not proud of my address, in the torn up town
No post code envy
But every song’s like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room
We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams
But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair
And we’ll never be royals
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler, you can call me Queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule (I’ll rule I’ll rule I’ll rule)
Let me live that fantasy
My friends and I we’ve cracked the code
We count our dollars on the train to the party
And everyone who knows us knows that we’re fine with this
We didn’t come from money
But every song’s like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room
We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams
But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair
And we’ll never be royals
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler, you can call me Queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule (I’ll rule I’ll rule I’ll rule)
Let me live that fantasy
(Ooh ooh oh)
We’re bigger than we ever dreamed, and I’m in love with being queen
(Ooh ooh oh)
Life is great without a care
We aren’t caught up in your love affair
And we’ll never be royals
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler, you can call me Queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule (I’ll rule I’ll rule I’ll rule)
Let me live that fantasy
Meet Me In Montauk 
Lorde is, without question, enormously talented and, thanks to my dauther’s obsession with her, I’ve heard some of the other tracks from the album, which are also confident and strong. Really hard to believe she recorded something like this at 16. Just incredible.
The song deserves commentary, which I will come back to provide later. However, for now I just have to point out how amusing the linked ads are on your post today 🙂 “backing tracks,” “wedding rings,” and “blood stains.” I think there’s a blog post to be made from the analysis of those choices alone!
In light of the Adele discussion from the past two weekends, I wonder how much of a role Lorde’s co-writer/producer Joel Little played in the final product. From what I’ve read, the lyrics are all hers but the backing tracks and melodies are mostly his.
Of course, he’s been kicking around New Zealand with minimal success for years and it took Lorde to put him on the charts, so it seems they each need each other equally.
Will be interesting to see if the collaboration continues on her future work.
I am looking forward to seeing which track was your favorite 🙂 I have listened to that album far too many times… it may be a problem.
Maddie, I believe Clay indicated that his favorite song was “Pure Heroin.”
That’s the album title. My favorite song remains a secret!
Oh, I thought it was also a track on the album.