Lorde

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), better known by her stage name Lorde (/lɔːrd/), is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Born in Takapuna and raised in Devonport, Auckland, she became interested in performing as a child. In her early teens, she signed with Universal Music Group and was later paired with the songwriter and record producer Joel Little, who has co-written and produced most of Lorde's works. Her first major release, The Love Club EP, was commercially released in March 2013. The EP reached number two on the national record charts of Australia and New Zealand.

In mid-2013, Lorde released her debut single "Royals". It became an international crossover hit and made Lorde the youngest solo artist to achieve a US number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1987. In late 2013, she released her debut studio album, Pure Heroine. The record topped the charts of Australia and New Zealand and reached number three on the US Billboard 200. Its following singles include "Tennis Court", "Team", "No Better" and "Glory and Gore". In 2014, Lorde released "Yellow Flicker Beat" as a single from the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.

Lorde's music consists of subgenres such as dream pop and indietronica. She has earned two Grammy Awards, a Brit Award and ten New Zealand Music Awards. In 2013, she was named among Time's most influential teenagers in the world, and in the following year, she was in Forbes's "30 Under 30" list.

Of Croatian and Irish descent, Ella Yelich-O'Connor was born in Takapuna to Vic O'Connor, a civil engineer, and Sonja Yelich, a poet, on November 7, 1996. She was raised in the nearby suburb of Devonport with her two sisters, Jerry and India, and her brother, Angelo.

At age five, she joined a drama group and developed public speaking skills. At that same time, Lorde was attending Vauxhall School and later Belmont Intermediate School. Her mother encouraged her to read a range of genres, which Lorde cited as a lyrical influence, "I guess my mum influenced my lyrical style by always buying me books. She'd give me a mixture of kid and adult books too, there weren't really any books I wasn't allowed to read. I remember reading Feed by M.T. Anderson when I was six, and her giving me Salinger and Carver at a young age, and Janet Frame really young too."