FEATURE:
Groovelines
Lorde - Royals
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THERE is a lot to cover and explore…
PHOTO CREDIT: Charles Howells/Windish Agency
when it comes to Lorde’s monster, billion-streams-achieving hit, Royals. I shall come to that streaming honour in a second. There has been talk and speculation that we may get a follow up to 2017’s Melodrama from the New Zealand artist soon. Just before I draw in some articles, I am keen to source from Wikipedia. The impact and success of Royals is huge:
"Royals" is the debut single by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, included in her debut extended play (EP) The Love Club EP (2012) and debut studio album Pure Heroine (2013). Lorde wrote the song with producer Joel Little. "Royals" is a minimalist art pop and electropop song with influences of hip hop, R&B, and indie pop. The track's lyrics express disapproval with the sumptuous lifestyle presented in songs and music videos by pop and hip hop-influenced artists.
"Royals" received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised its songwriting, production, and Lorde's vocal performance. Since its release, the track has appeared on critics' year-end and decade-end song lists. The single attained international chart success, reaching number one in New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In the US, "Royals" spent nine weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It sold 10 million units worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time”.
Royals is one of those songs that one cannot help but play and admire. There are not many songs that hit a billion streams! As this article reports (it was published on 11th May) outlines, Royals has joined an exclusive club:
“Lorde has reached a milestone with her 2013 debut single “Royals” reaching one billion streams.
The Auckland, New Zealand artist is the latest Australasian artist recognised by the region’s ‘The 1,000,000,000 List’, as organized by APRA AMCOS. Other artists who’ve previously made the list include Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) and Gotye.
The data accounts for streams across all major digital platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, YouTube Music, Vevo and Amazon Music, among others.
Billboard reports that Lorde was presented with her latest award at the APRA AMCOS NZ offices in her hometown by CEO Dean Ormston and Anthony Healey, head of APRA AMCOS NZ operations.
“Royals” was Lorde’s debut single, included in her debut extended play (EP) ‘The Love Club’ EP (2012) and debut studio album Pure Heroine (2013). Lorde wrote the song with producer Joel Little. “Royals” is a minimalist art pop and electropop song with influences of hip hop, R&B, and indie pop. The track’s lyrics express disapproval with the sumptuous lifestyle presented in songs and music videos by pop and hip hop-influenced artists.
Her publisher, Kobalt Music Publishing, also received an award for the song’s landmark achievement.
She’s one of four New Zealand songwriters officially added to ‘The 1,000,000,000 List’ in recent days. Kiwi producer Joel Little, one of the producers of Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover‘, landed his fourth award – this time for Swift’s hit ‘ME!‘ from her 2019 album.
‘The 1,000,000,000 List’ is promoted as being the first award of its kind to acknowledge a songwriter’s achievement.
Past recipients include Kevin Parker (for Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know The Better”), Dean Lewis and Jon Hume (for “Be Alright”), Flume (for “Never Be Like You”), and Gotye (for “Somebody That I Used to Know”).
In other Lorde news, the singer took on Bruce Springsteen‘s “Tougher Than the Rest” in New Zealand in March, performing a duet with Marlon Williams”.
I am going to end up with an article from Billboard regarding the recording and popularity of Royals. Whilst I feel Lorde’s second album, Melodrama, is stronger than her debut album, Pure Heroine (where Royals appears), I feel we witnessed this unique and very powerful artists on the debut. Royals is a wonderful example of her raw talent and incredible voice! I was interested to know more about the origins of one of the most popular songs ever. Billboard published a feature in 2019 (in a series that highlighted songs that defined the decade). We learned more about an extraordinary track:
“When “Royals” arrived in June 2013, not many listeners stateside knew who Lorde was. Even so, the singer-songwriter’s debut single immediately garnered attention for its deep, bass-thumping beat and her vocal delivery that offered a lesser-told pop narrative -- “I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh… I’m not proud of my address,” she speak-sings on the chilling first verse.
But when songwriter-producer Joel Little first met the artist born Ella Yelich-O'Connor, she had barely written a full song. “She had amazing lyrics, almost just like poetry on a page, but it wasn’t a song structure or anything like that,” Little recalls.
So, they held an unofficial, two-person songwriting bootcamp of sorts, simultaneously working on artist development for the then 15-year-old singer-songwriter. For one week, they wrote a song a day -- each in a completely different style. “She wasn’t completely sure how she wanted to sound,” says Little. “We were trying to figure it all out.”
At the end of the week, they ended up recording what became “Million Dollar Bills,” which Lorde included on her 2013 debut EP, The Love Club, released on Universal, with whom she had a development deal with in her and Little’s native New Zealand. “It didn’t feel like anyone else,” the producer says. “It felt like it could be her.”
Together, Lorde and Little made the minimal beat and finished writing the verses in two days. They knew they had something cool, but had no idea it would take off the way it did, which Little credits in part to Lorde's idea to post the song as a free download on SoundCloud -- “She was like, ‘I’m 15, none of my friends have credit cards, no one can buy the song.’” Within days, "Royals" had over 10,000 downloads; and soon enough, 60,000. “Coming from New Zealand, there’s only been a couple of artists that really had major success in the U.S.,” says Little. “It never even entered our minds that that was a possibility. We didn’t even think about [crossing over] the whole time that we were making [‘Royals’].”
“[‘Royals’] signaled a change in the landscape of how songs needed to sound,” says Little, who in the past year has co-written and co-produced with the Jonas Brothers, Tove Lo and Swift herself. “Up until that point, there were faster tempos and more layers, those were the songs that were doing really well. And then we came out with a song that was just a voice and a minimal backdrop. That made people [realize] there’s power in telling a story that way.”
A year after the song’s release, it was being covered by Jack White, and won Lorde two Grammys, including song of the year, at the 2014 ceremonies. She’s since topped the Billboard 200 with her 2017 sophomore album Melodrama, which earned her a spot as musical guest on Saturday Night Live, sent her on a world arena tour and landed her a headlining slot at festivals like Lollapalooza.
“When [‘Royals’] comes on now and I’m in a completely different country,” says Little, “it still blows my mind to think that it has reached as far as it has”.
I am a big fan of Lorde. Whilst I would place other tracks of hers above Royals, I have to salute its success and how it still resonates and holds people years later! It is a song that one sings along to. One that motivates movement. I am looking ahead to potential new music from the fantastic Lorde. The more I listen to Royals, the more I get from it and the more it sticks in my head! It is one of those songs that digs really deep and catches in the brain. It is such a key moment in Lorde’s career. Few artists can claim to have recorded a song that is as important and loved…
AS the majestic Royals.