A teenager introduced us awhile back to the ubiquitous song Royals by the New Zealand teenager known as Lorde (Ella Yelich-O’Connor her given name).  From the get-go, it was hard to deny the charm of Royals, with its spare, but beautiful, melody and provocative (in a decent way) lyrics. Without knowing more, we surmised the 16-year old Lorde would be yet another young, juvenile artist left to be exposed and plundered by the critics.  Well we surmised wrong.  Lorde and her new album Pure Heroine have received near-universal praise from critics (including one of our favorites, the highly-respected and exacting Kitty Empire of the Guardian), with the album receiving an admirable 78 score on Metacritic.  And of those that haven’t fallen in line, they are mostly dismissible (the oft-ridiculous Spin amongst them).

Having heard a few more Lorde songs, we are generally impressed (Tennis Court is another gem).  We like the spare production (not unlike The xx), melodies, vocals and (surprisingly) lyrics.  As to the lyrics, the positive influence of her poet mother, Sonja Yelich, is clear.  Thought and care has been taken in crafting the lyrics, which hold up reasonably well to closer scrutiny.

Tuesday night Lorde made her national TV debut on the Jimmy Fallon Show.  We think she acquitted herself quite well (despite the Milli-Vanilli virtual-choir accompaniment–she should have borrowed Moby’s gang).  Watch below as Lorde performed Royals and then White Teeth Teens.  What say you?