Lorde in ‘Perfect Places’
Often described by critics as a “game changer” in the music industry, Lorde has never been one to follow a traditional path.
In “Perfect Places,” she finds herself grieving over her heroes dying, not being able to stand the headlines and the world around her becoming less recognisable. The song was written at the time when Bowie and Prince had passed away in 2016, which felt like a massive loss for the culture. These were highly influential artists who defined music for decades and inspired the generations that came after. The song speaks to being young and the difficult transition into adulthood and the realisation that life isn’t perfect. In the music video, she’s seen walking alone at the beach, running through a maize field, dancing next to a bonfire, almost becoming one with the water, and losing her mind in a cabin. It was quite deliberate on her part to choose these specific scenes to show the “extents we go to in order to feel alive, but it spares no details of “graceless,” grotesque real life — the consequences of “nights spend off our faces”” (Pelly, 2017).
In today’s generation, it’s easy to feel out of place and not know where you belong. In the song, she take a second to acknowledge the climate surrounding her claiming ”I hate the headlines and the weather.” She wrote this as a response to how most people were feeling helpless and defeated in the heat during high summer under Trump’s reign. It was quite shocking to witness the president making headlines every day and tweeting horrendously on social media. What’s worse was that the most powerful man in the world did not believe in climate change. It was difficult to comprehend that this was now our reality, which certainly raised a lot of concerns.
We all go through periods where we question our existence or wonder if we’re alone in our suffering. Lorde captures that feeling in ‘Perfect Places’ as she articulates that what a lot of people experience is a universal phenomenon. Despite being a musician from New Zealand, she’s gained the trust of millions all over the world who relate to her music. Even as someone who’s originally from Bhutan and lived in the U.S., I’ve never felt as connected or deeply understood by anyone else. Maybe there isn’t such a thing as a perfect place, but the closest I’ve ever felt to being near one is when I listen to Lorde.
