Songs That Make Me Say Hell Yeah! “Royals” by Lorde

Here is it, folks. The first song I’m posting that doesn’t stab me in the heart.

I can’t remember the last song that grabbed me by the gut and led to me buying it and playing it over and over until my family yelled at me to stop playing it already. This may have happened last when I lived with my parents. Who knows?

So, I’m a little late to this party, but at least I showed up. Consider hitting “play” here and then clicking off this screen or just closing your eyes and listening, because I couldn’t find a video for this song that wasn’t distracting from the actual music:

My friends and we’ve cracked the code
We count our dollars on the train to the party
And everyone who know us knows
That we’re fine with this
We didn’t come from money

The beat is hypnotic, and the voice is strangely textured. I first heard this on KROQ, which is supposedly a rock station. I was intrigued. And then I heard it on a pop station, which is when I figured everyone else in the world has already heard it, and this is no breaking news.

What shocked me is that the singer is only 16. And then I watched this video and I found HER hypnotic too, the way she moves her body as she sings, the shapes her face makes – it’s hard to look away. The official video is even worse — I couldn’t stand the forced symbolism of the stark beige apartment and the kids shaving their heads. It just made me think “My kid better never do that,” and reminded me of how old I am and how young they are.

These kids today. They have no place in the music that gets me to say “hell yeah!” even if they are the ones who make it.