New Zealand prodigy in global spotlight

“Gold teeth, Grey Goose trippin’ in the bathroom. Blood stains, ball gowns trashin’ the hotel room. We don’t care; we aren’t caught up in your love affair.”

Now, many may wonder what this random hodgepodge means; however, for those acquainted with the new artist Lorde, these are more than words. They are a string of lyrics to Lorde’s most popular song, “Royals.”

Lorde is a stage name of Ella Yelich-O’Connor, a 16-year-old prodigy from New Zealand who has recently gained millions of new fans around the world.

She was first discovered by a talent scout at age 12 after a video of her singing at a talent show was posted online. Two years later, she was signed to a record deal with Universal Studios, where she began working on her first EP, which is a mini album, “The Love Club.”

After releasing two singles, “Royals” and “Tennis Court” earlier in 2013, Lorde recently released her first full album, “Pure Heroine” on Sept. 27. Both songs reached No. 1 on New Zealand’s top-40 list and also No. 1 on the United States’s top-100 list when they were released.

“She has a really different voice and look,” junior Nadia Younes said. “Her style of music stands out from all the other artists today because most artists sing about the same things over and over again, but she changes it up and takes a bunch of topics and puts them in one song.”

Sophomore Shireen Haghshenas said Lorde separates herself from other artists because of her unique lyrics.

“She has her own individual genre,” Haghshenas said. “Her lyrics almost create a sort of alter ego for herself because she’s always embracing royals, crowns, queens, glory, victory and gore.”

Another fan, junior Rachel Menard said that “She uses her music as a way to express herself, and because of that, she’s really genuine. She doesn’t compromise her values to make good music.”