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Highlights

• Lorde initially hated her hit song "Royals", calling it awful and disastrous.
• "Royals" received backlash for potentially racist lyrics, but Lorde defended it as a critique of materialism.
• While "Royals" may not be her favorite, Lorde has praised her song "Green Light" as one of her best.

In 2018, New Zealand-born musician Lorde was hailed by NPR as the: '21st century's author of adolescent evolution'.The title was quite an impressive compliment for a young singer who had only released her multi-platinum debut album "Pure Heroine" in 2013.

"Pure Heroine's" lead single, "Royals", ranked high on music charts worldwide and earned Lorde 'Song of the Year' and 'Best Solo Performance' at the 2014 Grammy Awards. The catchy tune has undoubtedly made Lorde a household name and has solidified her place in music history. However, many may not know that Lorde has since revealed that she not only hated the song that made her famous but that it also almost didn't make the album.

Lorde Once Revealed That She Hated The Song "Royals"

There's no denying that Lorde is one of today's most talented performances.

Not only is Lorde an accomplished singer with a plethora of awards to her credit, but she is also a talented songwriter.

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Lorde seems to be preparing to release new music after she received mixed reviews on her third album 'Solar Power' in 2021.

As fans will know, Lorde is the sole author of her breakthrough single "Royals"; however, not long after its release, the star stated that she hated the song and that it almost didn't make it on her debut album "Pure Heroine."

According to a report by Celeb Cheat Sheet, Lorde said the following in an interview with The Daily Record:

I listen to people covering the song ["Royals"] and putting their own spin on it, and I listen to it in every single form except the original one I put out, and I realize that actually, it sounds horrible. It sounds like a ringtone from a 2006 Nokia. None of the melodies are cool or good.

To the shock of the interviewer and later her fans, Lorde went on to call "Royals" awful and disastrous.

Lorde Received Backlash From Critics About "Royals" Lyrics

No artist, no matter how talented or famous they are, is immune from criticism, whether just or unjust. And when Lorde released "Royals", she received equal parts praise and criticism.

In October 2013, CNN posted an article titled: "Is Lorde's 'Royals,' the top song on the Billboard Hot 100, racist?"

In the article, CNN discussed the debate that "Royals" was politically insensitive to the African American community, specifically Hip-Hop artists.

One of Lorde's most prominent critics, claimed CNN, was feminist blogger Veronica Bayetti Flores, who wrote that Lorde's song "Royals" had racist undertones.

Flores then highlighted this particular verse in the song to support her claims:

My friends and I – we've cracked the code.

We count our dollars on the train to the party.

And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,

We didn't come from money.

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom.

Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,

We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.

But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your time piece.

Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash

We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair

The verse Veronica Bayetti Flores took particular offense to was:

• "But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your time piece."

Flores's argument, which was posted on the website Feministing, was that the lyrics alluded to wealthy African American rappers and implied that their rich lifestyle was abhorrent.

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CNN stated that Flores wrote Feministing:

While I love a good critique of wealth accumulation and inequity, this song is not one; in fact, it is deeply racist. Because we all know who she's thinking when we're talking gold teeth, Cristal (champagne) and Maybachs. So why s— on black folks? Why s— on rappers?

While Flores received a substantial amount of backlash from the singer's fans and music critics, she later claimed that her initial problem lay not with Lorde, who was only a kid when she first wrote the song, but with the record producers who published it.

Lorde didn't respond to the criticism; however, she did mention on more than one occasion that the song was a dig at those in the entertainment industry who prioritized materialism.

In 2022, Lorde told The Observer in reference to the meaning behind "Royals":

What really got me is this ridiculous, unrelatable, unattainable opulence that runs throughout. Lana Del Rey is always singing about being in the Hamptons or driving her Bugatti Veyron or whatever, and at the time, me and my friends were at some house party worrying how to get home because we couldn't afford a cab. This is our reality! If I write songs about anything else, then I'm not writing anything that's real.

What Is Lorde's Favorite Song She's Ever Written?

Lorde may not be the biggest fan of "Royals" but she does have other songs that are near and dear to her heart. So what are they?

While Lorde often reserves her praise for other notable artists like her good friend Taylor Swift, the humble singer once hinted at one of her favorite songs she's ever written.

In 2017, Lorde released her second studio album titled "Melodrama".

The lead single off the album was titled "Green Light", and it later peaked at number 19 on the Billboards Hot 100 chart.

Not long before the album's release, Lorde wrote on Twitter:

Fine tuning the plan for the whole year. Holy sh*t you guys have no idea there's so much cool stuff coming…all these beautiful insane moments – Ah you're gonna die. And the music… this next song is like my favourite thing I've ever done. It truly sounds like nothing I've heard in the best way.

While its unclear which song Lorde was referring to, it's evident that she was very proud of the album as she referred to it in Times magazine as a "blueprint to my brain." While fans helped to make "Melodrama" a success, the same couldn't be said of Lorde's later album "Solar Power" released in 2021.

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