10 Reasons You And Your Kids Should Be Listening To 16-Year-Old Lorde

If you’re not listening to 16-year-old Lorde‘s new album “Pure Heroine,” then we can’t be friends. This New Zealand songstress, otherwise known as Ella Yelich-O’Connor, demonstrated that she was clearly more than a flash in the pan with her single “Royals,” which you’ve been hearing eerily out of the bedroom of teenagers for the better half of the summer. But now I’m one of them, and I can’t even so much as pour a cup of tea without one of her melodic songs in the background.

While I’m generally hesitant at throwing around the word “role model” for young people in the entertainment industry, Lorde has exhibited a few qualities that make her seem slightly more aware than your standard underage pop star. Here are some reasons to get this young lady on our kids’ iPods, as well as your own:

(photo: Facebook)

1. She’s actually talented

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2. She’s critical of materialism

3. She identifies as a feminist and knows what the term actually means

I’d refer to myself as a feminist. I don’t think my music is overtly rooted in feminism…

I appreciate you saying that. One of my biggest disappointments is when an artist says, “I’m not a feminist! I love guys!”
That’s such a worrisome portrayal of feminism. A lot of girls think it’s not shaving under their arms and burning bras and hating boys, which just seems stone age to me. Websites like Rookie, Tavi Gevinson‘s website, are good for that kind of thing and educating girls on what it means to be a feminist. I really appreciate her work.

4. And she actually does read Rookie

5. She takes issue with what pop music generally tells young girls to value:

”You know, obviously I’m a feminist, and there are parts in that music that frustrate me”¦and I think how females are portrayed in pop music is not a super-healthy thing,” she said during an interview with Radio New Zealand. She then started talking about ”a song [that] came out recently by a big pop star,” which ended up being Selena Gomez’s pop hit ”Come and Get It.”

”I love the song,” she said, adding, ”But the lyrical thing is ”˜When you’re ready come and get it, I’ll be sitting right here just waiting.’ And I just find that so pathetic and you know, I don’t think that girls should be listening to that sort of thing and should think that that’s normal or healthy.”

6. She’s got awesome hair