Antarctica, onion rings, endless anticipation: An autopsy of Lorde stan Twitter

Singer-songwriter Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor — known by casual fans as “Lorde” — staked her claim to my brain space in 2019, and she has not left since. I have three Spotify playlists dedicated to this woman. When I’m not listening to her music, I’m asking myself when more might come. “Lorde, where is the album?” is an integral part of my dialect — sometimes shouted at friends and family, sometimes shouted into the void as I dance-cry to “Green Light” in my car. It hasn’t always been this way. I used to know peace. Let’s take it back to the beginning in hopes of pinpointing the beginning of Lorde’s rent-free lease inside my mind. It didn’t start in 2013 — when Lorde first exploded onto the scene — as the slick soundscape of “Royals” permeated the air of my mom’s minivan every morning and afternoon of my eighth grade year.  It didn’t start in 2016 — when the edgy lyricism of “Pure Heroine” became a lengthy personal mantra — as my friends and I weaved through small-town backroads to “400 Lux” and “Buzzcut Season.” It didn’t even start in June 2017, with the long-anticipated release of the critically-acclaimed “Melodrama.”…
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