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The Conversation
The Conversation
Rosemary Overell, Senior Lecturer in Communication Studies, University of Otago

On her new album, Lorde creates pop at its purest – performative, playful and alive to paradox

“✏️Describe the vibe” goes the demand to commenters underneath the YouTube video for Lorde’s latest single, “Hammer”. Fans form a flow; a “vibe check” in Zillenial parlance:

The pure rawness … (@lynmariegm)

A more raw true-to-self form … (@m3lodr4matic)

This is pure art … (@anishm-g1r)

Lorde’s 2013 debut album was titled Pure Heroine. But, she tells us – and fans and critics agree – Virgin is the first album which “does not lie”. Pure pop. Not lying is not necessarily synonymous with truth, however. Rather, not lying in the present cultural moment is more akin to the careful articulation of a whole vibe.

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