Lorde is Ella Yelich-O'Connor, the New Zealand singer-songwriter whose 2013 hit Royals reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 — the first New Zealand solo artist to top it since 1972. Pure Heroine (2013) and the Jack Antonoff-produced Melodrama (2017) are both essential modern pop. Shop Lorde vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, performing as Lorde, was born in Takapuna, New Zealand on November 7, 1996. She is of Croatian and Irish descent. She launched her recording career at age 12 with self-released material via Auckland talent representatives and signed with Universal Music New Zealand at age 13. Her debut Pure Heroine (2013), recorded when she was 16, included the international hit Royals - which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first New Zealand solo artist #1 since 1972. Her 2017 album Melodrama (produced with Jack Antonoff) was widely cited as one of the most important albums of the 2010s. She has continued releasing material at relatively extended intervals across multiple decades, with creative authority over her catalog.
Lorde's sound combines art pop, electropop, indie pop, dream pop, alternative pop, and synth-pop with her distinctive vocal delivery (developed in adolescence), minimalist atmospheric production aesthetics, and lyrical content addressing youth, identity, relationships, and personal experience. Her foundational influence on contemporary art pop and broader popular music is widely documented.
Lava/Republic pressings of the Lorde catalog have been issued in extensive color variant editions and limited deluxe pressings, with collector demand.
Listeners new to Lorde typically start with Melodrama (2017) or Pure Heroine (2013).
