Lyrics breakdown- Royals By Lorde

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1. Lyrics Breakdown ‘Royals’ Lorde

(0.10)
I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
The artist Lorde goes by a very ‘basic’ lifestyle. She has never seen luxurious
items such as diamonds in real life. The only reason she knows of these is
because of pop culture meaning she has only seen them through the silver
screen. Lorde is cutting her teeth referencing that she is just getting to grips
with this new idea. The movies have introduced her to this new materialism-
without these movies she would never have known about diamonds and the
greed they symbolise. At this part I will introduce the feature of my music
video with a location of the ‘basic’ lifestyle Seaton Beach.
(0.22)
And I’m not proud of my address
In the town up town, no postcode envy
Lorde calls her home town in New Zealand a torn up town which is somewhat
of a stretch. She went to one of the richest school in New Zealand and lives in
one of the wealthiest suburbs in Auckland. However Lorde’s belief is that New
Zealand is pretty much irrelevant in modern society, because of this no one
envies her postcode. My idea here is to use a lower classed postcode area in
the town to establish the quote ‘no post code envy’.

(0.33)
[Pre-chorus]
But every song’s like gold teeth, grey goose,
Tripping in the bathroom
Here Lorde is subtly criticizing mainstream music of today. Feeling tired of the
same discussions in songs by mainstream artists such as alcohol, drugs, fashion
and expensive cars. The song portrays the unreal expectations of teenagers
today influenced by media. At this point I will be using the features to lip sync
the lyrics, possibly in a studio location.

(0.37)
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room
We don’t care we’re driving Cadillac’s in our dreams
This part is the tagline of Lorde’s social networking blog, Tumblr. These
outlines Lorde’s whole philosophy of life. Here will again be lip sync of the
features in a studio.

2. (0.44)
But everybody’s like crystal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don’t care we aren’t caught up in your love affair
Again Lorde is mocking pop culture and is basically saying she doesn’t care for
that genre. At this point I want to juxtapose the whole typical pop video and
have a not so glamorous view. This could be interpreted by location or what
the features are going to be wearing.

(0.55)
[Chorus]
And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of lux just ain’t for us
We crave a different king of buzz
Let me be your ruler (ruler)
You can call me Queen Bee
Cos baby I’ll rule, let me live that fantasy
Here Lorde is basically portraying how she doesn’t want to be part of that
luxury which is why she craves ‘a different kind of buzz’. She wants to lead a
group of people like herself, which is why she references to herself as a queen.
Here I could juxtapose what Lorde is portraying and have fancy mise en scene
mocking royalty or luxury.

(1.24)
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 for money
Although Lorde doesn’t like the typical mainstream ways doesn’t mean that
her and her friends don’t socialise and have a good time. This part basically
explains that she goes out with a normal amount of money to spend when
going out unlike mainstream artists blowing their money on a night out. At this
part I want introduce a partying scene but a scene, which is different to
mainstream nights out. This part will include the features dressed up but in a
quieter place having a drink with a lot of shots filled with laughter.

3. (1.46+)
After this verse the pre-chorus and chorus are just repeated until the end. For
the rest of this I will not be using any new locations I will be switching through
all different scenes of the features in the introduce locations. Such as the
beach, lower class area, the studio, the mocking of luxury and the party. I will
be using as many different shots that are possible with the equipment I can use
and will create the whole contrast of mainstream artists and portray what this
track it about.