But while adult fans may connect to these songs with a sense of bittersweet nostalgia, Lorde’s teenage listeners resonate in a different, even more potent way. “Royals,” the song that made her a star at 16, criticized adult consumerism while celebrating the fleeting freedom of youth follow-ups like “Team” and “Supercut” earned raves for their takes on high school popularity and failed relationships, respectively.
At 24, the singer is on the cusp of Gen Z herself (the year of her birth, 1996, is considered the border between millennials and Zoomers), and her music has always captured the beauty and pain of adolescence with incisive precision. The fact that teenagers love Lorde isn’t exactly surprising. I think the coming-of-age theme in her lyrics is huge for a generation that loves nostalgia. LORDE IS BACK WITH HER NEW ERA,” tweeted a fan with the fittingly titled account “did lorde release a new album today.” Or, as another succinctly put it: “Thank you to lorde for singlehandedly saving our summer.” And when the song and video actually dropped, even those gently making fun of its Midsommar -meets-Aveeno-ad vibes couldn’t hide their excitement. In the days leading up to the track’s debut, a music lover couldn’t scroll through TikTok without seeing at least a few “LORDE IS BACK, THIS IS NOT A DRILL”-type videos from ecstatic - and very, very young - fans, many of whom earnestly likened the singer’s comeback to a pandemic-ending miracle.
Despite many of these fans having been too young to appreciate her music when it first came out, platforms like TikTok have helped the songs gain traction, and today the members of Generation Z are rabid in their love for Lorde.Īnd now that the singer is making her long-awaited return (her first single in four years, “Solar Power,” debuted on June 10 to largely positive reviews, and a full album is slated to drop on August 20), that passion is out in full force. On social media, there are countless teen-created tributes to the singer, the posts (and many, many memes) fawning over the strength of her lyrics, those mesmerizing dance moves, and, yes, the occasional detailed onion-ring review. While Lorde’s appeal has always spanned different age groups (her music has been praised by everyone from David Bowie to Elton John), it’s teenagers who undoubtedly make up the most passionate end of her fan base.