In Billboard’s sixth slot is ‘Team,’ the latest single from Lorde’s juggernaut Pure Heroine.
‘Team’ is a sister song to ‘Royals,’ with the same “we live in cities you’ll never see onscreen” message and disdain for hip-hop excess. Here she sums up that boredom with the great line, “I’m kind of over gettin’ told to throw my hands up in the air… so there.”
Lorde has been compared to Fiona Apple, a connection I definitely see in their music. But the biggest parallel for me is how awkward and uncomfortable both women come across on camera. They are definitely better off heard than seen.
I don’t mean that as a knock on their appearance — they’re both quite attractive. They just get all freaky when they perform.
We’ve not yet lost all our graces
The hounds will stay in chains
Look upon your greatness and she’ll send the call out
Send the call out
Call all the ladies out, they’re in their finery
A hundred jewels on throats
A hundred jewels between teeth
Now bring my boys in, their skin in craters like the moon
The moon we love like a brother, while he glows through the room
Dancin’ around the lies we tell
Dancin’ around big eyes as well
Even the comatose, they don’t dance and tell
We live in cities you’ll never see onscreen
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things
Livin’ in ruins of a palace within my dreams
And you know we’re on each other’s team
I’m kind of over gettin’ told to throw my hands up in the air
So there
So all the cups got broke
Shards beneath our feet
But it wasn’t my fault
And everyone’s competing for a love they won’t receive
Cause what this palace wants is release
We live in cities you’ll never see onscreen
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things
Livin’ in ruins of a palace within my dreams
And you know we’re on each other’s team
I’m kind of over gettin’ told to throw my hands up in the air
So there
I’m kind of older than I was when I reveled without a care
So there
We live in cities you’ll never see onscreen
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things
Livin’ in ruins of a palace within my dreams
And you know we’re on each other’s team
We’re on each other’s team
And you know we’re on each other’s team
We’re on each other’s team
And you know and you know and you know
Meet Me In Montauk 
The Fiona Apple comparison is interesting, though Apple pushes the envelope musically far more than Lorde, making Lorde’s music more accessible and commercially viable. It will be interesting to see if Lorde’s future work maintains the balance she so brilliantly achieved on this album between originality and commerciality, or if she follows Apple’s path of eschewing radio-friendly tunes in favor of darker, more a avant garde material.
I find the juxtaposition of these songs and her defiant and proud media personality with her seemingly sunny selfie-posting friendship with Taylor Swift to be fascinating. 🙂
Didn’t finish… hard to imagine Fiona Apple spending a minute in Taylor Swift’s company and not stabbing her with a fork 😉
I’d be interested to see what Lorde’s music would sound like if she didn’t work with a co-writer. I think a lot of the more radio-friendly aspects of her songs (the hip-hop beats, for example) are the work of Joel Little.