Ella Yelich O’Conner was born on November 7th, 1996, in Davenport, Auckland, New Zealand. O’Conner is better known by her stage name, Lorde, and for her smash single “Royals.” “Royals” was released in 2013 and has taken United States music charts by storm, topping the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 9 weeks. ‘Royals” was the single for her debut LP Pure Heroine. This is a first in music history a solo New Zealand artist has topped this chart. Despite Lorde’s young age of 17, she has been nominated for several awards including a Silver Scroll Award and four Grammy Awards.

Lorde has recently performed “Royals” at the 55^th annual Grammy Awards. Her performance was highly talked about among many for her peculiar behavior and odd dance moves. Lorde also won the best solo performance award at this year’s Grammy Awards. Many students here at Padua are fans of Lorde and her music. Freshman Carmen E says, “I think “Royals” is a good song because it’s catchy and sticks in your head”! Another Freshman Abby H added, “She is a good singer and has an original look”. So far, Lorde’s career looks very promising for more great hit songs to come in the future.

Lorde is a role model for some teenage girls because she is so unique and different. Some Padua students may find her as an inspiration. When asked about her thoughts on Lorde, freshman Lauren G said, “She is a goddess.”  In a recent article with Rolling Stone Lorde said: ”The way I dress and carry myself, a lot of people find it intimidating. I think my whole career can be boiled down to one word I always say in meeting: strength “Even some notable celebrities find Lorde as a role model with her music, Lorde revealed in a Rolling Stone interview that Kanye West told her he liked the messages in her songs and that she was cool. Lorde has inspirations of her own that inspired her to began singing and getting into music such as Etta James, James Blake, and Neil Young.