Lorde

Lorde was born as Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor on 7 November 1996 in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand to Sonja Yelich and Vic O'Connor. Her mother is a poet while her father is a civil engineer. She has two sisters named Jerry and India, and a brother named Angelo. She attended Vauxhall School and later went on to study at the Belmont Intermediate School. From 2010 to 2013, Lorde attended Takapuna Grammar School while also working on her music career.

Talking about the New Zealander artiste’s love life, she is supposedly dating James Lowe.

Lorde began her singing career in 2009 when she signed with Universal Music Group (UMG). The following year, she, along with her musician friend Louis McDonald, gave live performances at multiple venues. In 2011, UMG hired Frances Dickinson to give her singing lessons. During this time, Lorde began writing songs as well. At the end of 2011, she collaborated with Joel Little for an EP. Soon after this, she self-released her debut EP titled ‘The Love Club EP’. The single "Royals" from this EP went on to become one of her biggest hits.

In September 2013, Lorde came up with her debut studio album titled ‘Pure Heroine’. This album consisted of the singles "Tennis Court", "Team", “No Better" and "Glory and Gore". The album was a major hit and topped the charts in New Zealand and Australia. It also peaked at No. 3 on the US Billboard 200.

In November 2013, the New Zealander signed a deal with Songs Music Publishing. She spent the next few months touring all over the world and performing at different venues. In September 2014, she released the track "Yellow Flicker Beat" for the soundtrack album of the flick ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1.’ Then on March 2, 2017, Lorde disclosed that the title of her second debut album would be ‘Melodrama’. On 9 March, she released the album’s single "Liability". The album went on to release on 16 June 2017.

In December 2017, Lorde cancelled her concert in Israel following a campaign by Palestinian activists supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. This online campaign incorporated an open letter by both the Palestinian New Zealander activist Nadia Abu-Shanab and the Jewish New Zealander activist Justine Sachs urging Lorde to cancel her tour citing the Israeli government’s oppressive policies. After cancelling her tour, Lorde also issued a statement on her Twitter account thanking fans and followers for educating her about Israel-Palestine.

Lorde's cancellation of her tour to Israel was welcomed by many Palestinian activists and supporters. By contrast, her actions were criticised by some pro-Israel supporters and. The Israeli Ambassador to New Zealand Itzhak Gerbeg and the Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev also issued statements urging the singer to reconsider her cancellation.

American rabbi Shmuley Boteach published a full-page advert in the ‘Washington Post,’ titled "Lorde and New Zealand ignore Syria to attack Israel". He even called her a "bigot”. In response to Boteach's poster, several actors, directors, musicians, and writers including John Cusack, Roger Waters, Angela Davis, and Mark Ruffalo issued a joint letter on ‘The Guardian’ defending the New Zealand singer’s stand.