Good Lorde!

Good Lorde!

Let's be honest. We all think Lorde is a little strange.

There's her stoic demeanour and eccentric on-stage dance moves. Then there are her anti-establishment and feminist opinions. All in all, there is something about this rising self-confessed "freak" that makes it a little harder to swallow.

Yet we sing Royals under our breaths and secretly respect the Kiwi's independence and maturity at just 17 years of age.

Besides, being a talented wiry-haired oddball has made her music's latest It girl - an award-winning one, no less. So maybe "weird" is not such a bad thing.

We lay out some facts about Lorde - or Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, if you please - that set her apart from pop's prototypical products.

 

1 SHE BATTLES ACNE

Zits? Big deal.

Lorde has no issues with letting fans know that she is far from flawless by Instagramming a snap of her bare face dotted with acne cream.

She also disapproves of "Photoshopping" her imperfections away.

Last month, she compared two photos, one edited, one unedited, of herself performing at the Lollapalooza festival in Chile in a post on Twitter and captioned it: "i find this curious - two photos from today, one edited so my skin is perfect and one real. remember flaws are ok :-)"

2 SHE HAS HER OWN MUPPET PUPPET

It sports her trademark wavy black mane, a black mesh-sleeved top and, strangely, a rather bulbous blue nose.

The 33cm-tall doll, created by The Muppets Studio, is being auctioned off at New Zealand online marketplace site Trade Me to raise funds for social-profit organisation Starship Foundation to help sick children.

At press time, it had fetched a price of over NZ$3,000 (S$3,300).

The auction ends on Sunday.

 

3 SHE'S DATING AN ASIAN 'NERD'

Taylor Swift-esque serial dating is not for her and neither are typical celebrity hotties.

Her New Zealand-born Chinese photographer beau James Lowe, 25, is as regular as can be.

The poor guy, once bullied by tabloids and netizens for being "skinny and ugly", recently wote about dating Lorde and being happy for her.

He wrote on onofield.com: "Since originally sitting down to write this post, Ella has become a two time grammy winner. She has taken home a Brit too. Currently she is on the opposite side of the world on tour. As much as I miss her, I couldn't be prouder of what she has achieved so far.

"If you are lucky enough to attend one of her shows on this current tour, you'll experience more than just her voice. The production she has dreamt up looks incredible… I can't wait to see it myself next month."

4 SHE BEAT A-LISTERS

The Grammy-winning singer ties with rock act Imagine Dragons with 12 nominations, thrashing seasoned heavyweights and fellow nominees like Timberlake and company at this year's upcoming Billboard Music Awards.

Besides her Top New Artist and Top Female Artist nods, Lorde has strangely been nominated in the Top Rock Artist and Top Rock Album categories as well.

The awards ceremony takes place on May 18 in Las Vegas.

 

5 SHE DOESN'T LIKE TO SMILE

On her seemingly 24/7 serious facial expressions, she told Fashion magazine: "I'm drawn to women who aren't painted in history as sweet figures... There is a lot of pressure for us to be really positive all the time. Every photo shoot I do, I get asked for big smiles, and I shouldn't have to be that way."

 

6 SHE HAS 'HAIRY' ISSUES

Here's Lorde's secret for maintaining her wild locks (or "unique type of straw", as she calls it): wash it once or twice a week, or once every two weeks. Also, no hair-drying and no brushing.

Other follicular issues she's dealt with include being called "Monobrow" in school because of her bushy eyebrows. She told Rookie magazine: "I still get stressed out about that."

7 SHE HAS NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH ALL HER MONEY

Spendthrift is not her middle name. She told Perth daily The West Australian: "I bought myself a bed. I don't really splurge or anything. I bought some nice art for my room and I got it framed and stuff so they were kind of splurges, I guess."

 

8 SHE CAN BE A NERVOUS WRECK

Last month, she admitted to throwing up just before a show.

"I can be completely crushed by feelings of all kinds. I get nervous, I get freaked out, I get, you know, the usual stuff," she told The West Australian.

 

9 SHE HAS PEOPLE CLAMOURING FOR HER WREATH NECKLACE IN THE ROYALS VIDEO

Never mind that the Meadowlark piece costs almost S$1,500.

The jewellery brand's co-owner Claire Hammon told New Zealand news site stuff.co.nz: "We've definitely had interest in it since then. But now we're selling them mostly to the US. I've had people call me directly to say they want the necklace Lorde is wearing."

 

10 SHE WAS PERSONALLY HAND-PICKED BY DAVE GROHL, KRIST NOVOSELIC AND PAT SMEAR

The surviving members of legendary rock act Nirvana chose Lorde to join them in singing their song All Apologies at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony last week.

She did a pretty solid job too, shying away from her standard all-black outfit - gasp! - and wearing a bubblegum pink Vionnet pantsuit.

 

This article was published on April 16 in The New Paper.

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