The Lorde

13 October 2013

The Lorde

 

 
The day after Lorde's song 'Royals' had hit number one on the US Billboard charts, I was walking down the main street of Auckland's city centre and saw a street evangelist standing a few metres away from a news stand that had the headline about Ella Yelich-O'Connor's success on it.
 
He was handing out copies of a CD about how to get "saved", and he seemed to be having a tough day, because unlike Lorde's song, no-one seemed to want his CD about "the Lord" that day.
 
I've since had a chat with the guy. His message was pretty much what I expected: "You must accept Jesus as your personal Lord and saviour if you want to go to heaven." Also, evolution is wrong, homosexuals are militant deviants and the End of Days is just around the corner.
 
I know there is really no point suggesting to someone with the arrogance to preach such a banal, flawed worldview on a street corner that their views and approach might be worth some serious re-evaluation, but as a former fundamentalist myself, I put a word in his ear about it anyway. He said he would pray for me.
 
Meanwhile, Lorde is still at number one on the music charts and millions are getting to appreciate her unusually thoughtful, fresh, existential lyrics and the soothing beats that accompany them. I'm one of them.
 
Lord, save us from the banality of fundamentalism. Lorde, save us from the banality of modern pop music.