Lorde has just dropped a new single on Beats 1 and Zane caught up with her to talk about it….
On where she went emotionally on “Liability”:
I'm really proud of this bit of songwriting. I feel like I got somewhere they hadn't been before, which is always a nice feeling as a songwriter. It's interesting because I had this realization that because of my lifestyle and what I do for work there’s going to be a point with every single person around me where I’m gonna be attacks on them in some way. If it is having to give up a little portion of their privacy or their life becoming more difficult or whatever. It was just this moment of sadness and I remember it so vividly. I was in this cab alone listening to “Higher” by Rihanna because Anti and just come out. And I had a little cry and I was just like “it’s always going to be this way, at some point with everyone it’s going to be this way”. But the song kind of ended up turning into a bit of a protective talismans for me. I was like, you know what, I'm always gonna have myself so I have to really nurture this relationship and feel good about hanging out with myself and loving myself. And the tone of the melody, the way it kind of falls around, it's almost like it’s kind of drunk or it sort of leans around, it’s got this hip hop cadence to it.
On the sound of Liability and still writing from the perspective of a young person:
I love the song so much and it feels so starkly truthful to me. And I think everyone knows what that’s like, to just feel like a f*cking liability. It's interesting because the viewpoint is such a youth to the writing. And I love that because I am 20 and I’m an idiot determined to keep writing from that place. But the song sounds so traditional. It’s this piano song which is very new territory for me. And I really had this moment of… I was like, a lot of teenage music is kind of expected to sound the same. And I was like, you know what, I could be Paul Simon in this moment. I could be Joni Mitchell or Kate Bush, these people who were very young. I don't listen to Wuthering Heights and think “oh that was a young person”. Even though the the lyrical perspective, you know there is this kind of this melodrama to it. I was aspiring to that level of young and old all kind of combined.
On the album and what’s the come:
The record is called Melodrama. [On number of songs on the album] It’s tight like my last one, I like to keep them small.
On upcoming performances:
It’s gonna be a big one. It’s gonna be so sick. We’re working with the sickest people on the show and doing all these festivals and awesome bits of TV. And it’s gonna be… oh my God I can’t wait for you to see it. I’m so excited!
