by Karen Heeringa
photo by Andrew Whitton
She’s got too many names to be professionally called EML-YO (although that would rule), so Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor prefers to go by the moniker Lorde. Maybe you’ve heard of her. Just a wee young thing, Lorde’s been gifted with a voice that sounds like a chain-smoking 50-year-old lounge singer from 1935. Her new album Melodrama wants to be “Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell” put together, and so far it could be seen as such (it’s definitely moody and dark at times.) The critical and commercial acclaim that this 20-year-old New Zealander receives with every passing release is almost boring at this point, and new tracks like “Green Light” and “Perfect Places” will continue to keep commuting singers occupied while stuck in traffic. While these new tracks will be great to hear live, one can count on Lorde wooing the crowd with her famous track “Royals” — lest there be riots on the CTA trains after her set.
