Lorde’s most royal retinue

Ahead of her homecoming shows in Auckland and Christchurch (February 11-13) Weekend Mix music reviewer John Hayden delves into Lorde’s discography to discover her 10 finest tracks.

10. CLEARBLUE (VIRGIN, 2025)

On an album where the former Ella Yelich-O’Connor told us "you’ve met me at a really interesting time in my life", it was this minimalist slice of warped electronica — all autotuned a capella snippets — that was at once a callback to the simplicity of her debut, and a celebration of hard-fought experience.

9. BUZZCUT SEASON (PURE HEROINE, 2013)

Delicate keyboard flourishes and ethereal backing harmonies foreground Buzzcut Season’s message — both an elegy for a lost adolescence, and a lament for the madness of the modern world ("the men on the news / they try to tell us that we will lose"). But our heroine doesn’t let them grind her down, choosing the refuge of "liv(ing) in a hologram with you."

8. OCEANIC FEELING (SOLAR POWER, 2021)

The sun-dappled Solar Power was a folk-pop left-turn that left fans cold; yet its epic closing track saw her wrestle with the messianic weight of celebrity. There was also the sense she cannily had one eye on her next incarnation — "I’m building a pyre / (ready to) step into the choir".

7. LIABILITY (MELODRAMA, 2017)

Armed with just her smoky lower register and a piano, Lorde’s first foray into balladry was not only prophetic — "you’re all gonna watch me disappear into the sun" was coincidentally the moment her songwriting went stratospheric — but casting herself in the titular role packed an emotional heft at heart-rending odds with the sparse arrangements.

6. SHAPESHIFTER (VIRGIN, 2025)

Album number four was perhaps Lorde’s boldest statement yet, an artefact consumed with agency and bodily autonomy. The stark pelvic cover art spoke volumes, as did Shapeshifter’s flux-evoking arrangements, as skittering dubstep effortlessly melded with string flourishes while Lorde found comfort as she intoned "I’ve been the sinner / I’ve been the saint".

5. TENNIS COURT (PURE HEROINE, 2013)

"Don’t you think that it’s boring how people talk" is quite the opening salvo, not least as the first line of track one of your debut LP — an insouciant new art form, indeed, and a brooding reflection on her rapidly receding anonymity set to menacing minor keys and dislocated bleeps and bloops.

4. MAN OF THE YEAR (VIRGIN, 2025)

Once anointed by David Bowie as "the future of music", Man of the Year fearlessly followed in The Dame’s footsteps, as Lorde unflinchingly revelled in pop’s transformative power — nowhere more breathtakingly when she ponders "who’s gon’ love me like this?" over the gauziest of synth pulses.

3. THE LOUVRE (MELODRAMA, 2017)

On 2013’s Team, she told us she’s "kind of over being told to throw my hands up in the air" — yet Melodrama’s centrepiece archly punctured the pretense of teenage aloofness as Lorde succumbed to the trappings of teen romance ("but we’re the greatest / they’ll hang us in the Louvre") as euphoria and wistfulness collided to thrilling effect.

2. GREEN LIGHT (MELODRAMA, 2017)

Four years on from the minimal genius of her debut, Melodrama’s sonic cathedral showcased producer Jack Antonoff’s maximalist pop brilliance, while marking the greatest transition in Lorde’s career. Green Light was an apt choice for lead single; a Bacchanalian banger with slinky piano lines and exultant slabs of synth — incorrect songwriting has never sounded so exuberant.

1. RIBS (PURE HEROINE, 2013)

"It feels so crazy, getting old" sounds utterly disingenuous from the pen of a 16-year-old. But it’s the eagle-eyed observations sprinkled throughout ("the drink you spilled all over me / Lover’s Spit left on repeat") that rapidly shifts Lorde’s greatest song from detachment to vulnerability, effortlessly articulating not only the thrill of youth, but also the attendant fears and anxieties.