David Byrne Shares His Experience Hearing Lorde’s Music For The First Time

David Bryne recalls the time he heard Lorde’s music for the first time. 

The two were discussing it as a part of the new “Musicians on Musicians” cover series by Rolling Stone. Bryne confessed to the New Zealand musician that he loved the minimalism in her music. He exclaimed: “I listened to your music several years ago. One of the things that hit me right into my musical veins was how minimal your music was. I noticed that a lot of things were going around the vocal area with harmonies, but speaking musically, it was a heart-ripping performance. That knocked me down, to be honest. I thought there’s so much that I could learn from that.” 

He questioned Lorde: “Did you get any specific pushback in the start? Like adding this or that to the production? 

Lorde replied: “It’s funny to hear that from you. When I released the song ‘Royals’ on the platform SoundCloud for free, I received a quick offer from an American record company, and they were saying, ‘You need to put a bit more into the song for the real version’ Oh, it’s the real version!”

Here, Bryne added: “So, you felt this with the sense of this is what it’s going to be?” To which Lorde replied: “Yes, I always admired the Ira Glass quote, where he speaks on being young. “You have a taste but not skill. So, make things that are not right while your taste remains intact, leading you to where you want to go eventually.”