New Release: Lorde - Royals

October 21, 2013 Critic Jonni 0 Comments

So last week was a disaster, my promise of posting a review every day of the week, failed. And even though I did plan on catching it up. I failed to find the motivation to do it. But this week, I will not be defeated and I shall review every day. And our new release for this week is currently sitting at the top spot of the UK iTunes Chart. This is Lorde, with "Royals".

Lorde, real name Ella Yelich-O'Connor, is an aspiring new artist who shows a lot of promise in her vocals, especially since she's only 16. But will she become a one hit wonder, or will she stand the test of time? We shall see, but I fear for the former. Lorde is from New Zealand, and this is her debut single, which has pummelled her into international fame, gaining the top spot in America. She has released two consecutive singles which are "Tennis Court" and "Team", the former has already charted at 197 on the UK chart. The singles have charted well in her home country but internationally they have faired much worse than her first single. Is she a one-trick pony? I think so, but I sure hope she can prove me wrong.

"Royals" was written by Ella Yelich-O'Connor and Joel Little. The song is simple but very catchy, and I can understand why it is an international hit. There were a few inspirations for the song, one of which was seeing a picture in the 'National Geographic' magazine. I just hope this isn't going to be her only hit, internationally; she has much more to give to this world.

There is, apparently, two versions of this video. The normal one and the US version. I am reviewing the US version, since that is the one that appears on the music channels here in the UK. There isn't much difference apart from more visuals of Lorde in the US version.

The music video has a performance piece and a narrative piece (if you can call it that). The performance adds nothing to this video. It feels like she's very relaxed when performing, including forgetting to lip-sync her words during some of the scenes. This is highly noticeable at the very start. Which makes me question, whether she is really into this music, and is it really her? Or maybe she just loves hearing herself sing.

The narrative side is all in slow-motion, or most of it anyway. With cut-scenes showing that they box, like to swim, and shave each other's hair, or their own, in some cases. They like to meet up and socialise. This depicts some natural teenage life, although we are missing a lot.

I feel this is quite incomplete. Is there any scenes that got cut out completely? Or did they just not have the time to include them? The song is catchy, and I think people will be singing and playing it until the song is forgotten about. But the music video adds nothing to the song whatsoever. This is one video that makes me question what the point was in making it. Which then questions as a whole, why make music videos in the first place? So you can all guess where this rating is going... The only good thing I can drag out of this is being able to identify Lorde and it relates to the song ever so slightly. There is worst videos in this world.

Buy on iTunes