I was 11 years old when I first heard “Royals” by Lorde on the radio. I quickly became obsessed with the song and the artist, a 16-year-old girl with hair like mine who understood the world in the way I wanted to. I bought her CD shortly after and I would listen to it on repeat in my room, much to the annoyance of my parents (especially my mom) who I vividly remember wondering out loud why she was allowing her 6th grader to listen to an album titled “Pure Heroine.” 10 years later, I still remember exactly how I felt when I first listened to those songs.
Lorde was one of my first exposures to alternative music and its energy. If you were on social media in 2013, I’m sure you remember this era of music and the posts that came along with it: the black and white filters, the oversized sweaters and leggings with Doc Martens, the pictures of the iPhone 4 with “Tennis Court” by Lorde playing on the screen. It’s silly to think about now, but I really wanted to emulate this lifestyle I was seeing online. I was waiting patiently for when I was a teenager, hoping that I could relate to the music better, and that my life would look a little more like theirs.
One thing I appreciate so much about “Pure Heroine” is that I can take a new approach to listening every time I come back to it. When I was 11, I loved the songs but I couldn’t relate to them, or even fully understand the meaning behind them. A few years later, when I was around the age Lorde was when she had written the album, I listened to it again and it was like I was hearing a completely different set of songs. I suddenly understood exactly what she meant by her lyrics, because I was going through or had been through a lot of the same experiences she was describing by that point. Now, as a 21-year-old in the “adult” world, I listen to the album with a deep sense of nostalgia. I miss the coming of age she is struggling with in this album, even though it was a struggle for me as well.
I love this album so much because it reminds me that I can’t go back in time, but that there’s so much insight about life and growing up to be gained in retrospect. I had no idea how influential “Pure Heroine” was going to be for me when I first heard it 10 years ago, and now I can see just how deeply entwined it became in my growing up — from the music I listened to, to the clothes I wore, to how I’ve navigated my life thus far. Artists like Lorde have truly impacted a generation of people, and I am so thankful that she continues to create such meaningful music.
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