Lorde is taking over the Late Late Show with James Corden this week (call it The Lorde Lorde Show), all in celebration of her new LP, Solar Power. On Tuesday night’s episode, the New Zealand phenom not only performed the album track “California,” but sat down with Corden for a chat about her career.
After recounting how she was signed to her first record contract after performing in a school talent show, Lorde discussed her recent “cleansing” of social media. If you hadn’t noticed, the pop singer isn’t doing much on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook these days, and it’s entirely intentional. “I did it because I felt like my brain wasn’t working very well anymore,” she said. “It was horribly difficult, hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
She compared it to cutting out sugar, where she felt crabby and disconnected for the first few days without social apps. “But I will say, the brain can make anything into a social network,” she said, revealing that her new “social network” is the New York Times Cooking app. “I go on the New York Times Cooking app, and I look at the comments… That’s become a source of community for me.”
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Lorde also took Google search and web browsers off her phone so she could free her brain to come up with its own opinions. “I felt like I didn’t have time to decide how I felt about anything. I just would be like, ‘What does everyone else think?’ And some version of that would be what I think; now I just give it a bit more time,” Lorde explained. Still, she added, “But it’s very, very difficult, and I truly only do it because I’m trying to write songs and I was wasting a ton of time. No halo.”
After the interview, Lorde laid out on the sand to sing “California.” A mini LA beach was built inside the studio, a circle of sand surrounded by a blue-sky backdrop. Lorde sat up on a beach towel, a single guitarist plucking behind her while the rest of the music appeared to be coming from an old-school boombox, and that’s how the entire song was delivered. It was all very much inline with the Solar Power vibes in general.
Check out the replay of both segments below. Also ahead, revisit Lorde’s Monday night Corden performance of “Solar Power.”
Speaking with Corden, Lorde also touched on her upcoming world tour, promising “to be as connected as possible.” While tickets are mainly sold out, they’re still available on the secondary market.