Yellich O’Conner to Lorde
Yellich O’Conner was born in Devonport to a prize winning poet mother, Sonja Yelich. Her talents were visible from a very young age when she started singing and performing in several school performances and drama classes. She discovered her love for music when she followed a friend into a drama club at the age of five. At the age of thirteen, O’Conner along with a friend Louis McDonald appeared in the school’s talent show, which they won. Seeing her talent, McDonald’s dad sent out her recordings to several record labels and this led to her signing to Universal Records within a year
This was when Yellich Maria decided to change her stage name to Lorde. The inspiration comes from her fascination towards the aristocracy and royalty. Initially, she decided to adopt the title “Lord” but it sounded way too masculine for a female teenage pop star. Hence, an “e” was added to Lord to make it more feminine.
Lorde and the Royals Fame
After signing with Universal Records, Lorde released an EP titled “The Love Club” in March of 2013. The title song of the EP was Royals that raised the bar and brought her into limelight. Royals debuted at number one on the Top Forty New Zealand list and a year later charted on Billboard 100. This made her the very first singer from New Zealand to have a number one song in US. It also made her the youngest top charting artist in 25 years. Other than that, her debut EP consisted for four more tracks. Two months after the release of the album, her song Royals was covered by an X Factor competition group. It was covered once again a few months later, this time in Australia.
After Royals was released in the United States, Lorde managed to sell around 85,000 copies within a single week. In June of 2013, Lorde released a single titled ‘Tennis Court’. It was followed by the ‘Tennis Court EP’. The song was played during Women’s Singles Final of 2013 Wimbledon Championship by BBC Sports. The same year, she performed in front of 10,000 people at the Splendour in the Grass Festival 2013.
Pure Heroine 2013 to Tour 2014
In August of 2013, Lorde tweeted that her debut studio album “Pure Heroine” will be released in September. After the release of the album, promotional campaign was launched within the US. For her songs from the album, she was awarded 2013 Songwriter’s Special Silver Scroll Award. She also appeared in several television interviews following that. Her cover song Tears for Fears was featured in the movie, The Hunger Games: Catch Fire. This was followed by her signing a contract with the Songs Music Publishing.
Lorde’s Pure Heroine has been received by the fans and critics with enthusiasm, and she has been labeled by several as the “voice of tomorrow”. She has been nominated for four Grammys, and the fans have their fingers crossed for what is going to happen.