It’s a good time to be a teenage girl in need of a role model, as both Lorde and Rookie mag founder Tavi Gevinson happen to be more than qualified for the job. The pair of 17-year-olds (seriously, I know, come on) discovered that they were mutual fans of one another and sat down to put together an interview for Rookie. The pair seemed to become fast friends and their interview is pretty long. All of it’s great and surprisingly insightful, but understanding that you might not have endless time like you did when you were a teenager, here are 6 highlights. They’re worth reading, even if they do make you feel painfully old.
1. On understanding teenagers from the inside out:
Tavi: I remember when people started paying attention to what I was doing, and it was like, “She should be getting knocked up like all the other kids her age!” It”s like, you complain when you think teenagers are stupid, and then when they try to do something, you”re all, “Oh, they”re growing up too fast, they don”t know what”s good for them.”
Lorde: It seems like a double standard to me. And there”s another part of it which I find really strange, which is that so many interviewers, even ones that I consider really intelligent and good writers, will do the, like, “Oh, you”re not taking your clothes off like Miley Cyrus and all these girls” thing, which to me is just the weirdest thing to say to someone. But then people will say, “She”s always talking about being bored, that”s petulant,” which I feel like is kind of taking the piss out of teenage emotions-just, like, making light of how teenagers feel.
2. Okay, this is exactly how you handle stupid questions, especially stupid questions about Miley Cyrus:
Tavi: People talk constantly about bullying and teen suicide and how people of our generation are apathetic, why would you make light of something that a lot of us relate to and that helps us feel understood? I”m curious, did you have to do any media training before all this started?
Lorde: I have never done media training. I feel like I probably should have, because then I could”ve better identified some of that baiting in the beginning. Now I”m really good at it… Now when people are like, “Tell me what you think of Miley!” I”ll say, “What do you think of Miley?” and they like flounder and say, “Well, I think she”s really talented…” and I”m like, there you go.
3. Wait, “just use a lot of hashtags” isn’t good advice?
Tavi: I think the natural thing for someone in your manager”s position would be, like, “I”m an adult and you”re a teenager, so I should tell you what to do.”
Lorde: I”ve had probably 200 adults in my career say, “We know best,” pretty much, and it”s been bullshit. Right down to when I started my social networks and I would get an email from one of the record companies saying, “Just realized that you”re not social-networking to your fullest potential. Here”s how! Use lots of hashtags! Only focus on the music, like ‘I”ve cooked something up in the studio, you guys, can”t wait for you to hear it!” Do ‘follow sprees” and constantly reply to fans!” I was like, “You”ve just got to trust me. Everyone will hate me in two months if I do that.”
4. I have a confession to make: I have never, ever, not even one time held hands with David Bowie:
Tavi: Have you had moments of just like, “Whoa, my life has come full circle”?
Lorde: Definitely. I don”t want to do the weird name-dropping thing but like–
Do it.
Meeting David Bowie was like that. To have someone like that tell you that listening to you felt like listening to tomorrow.
OH MY GOD.
I was like…I could creatively die and just be happy forever. I never tell anyone about that experience, because it meant so much to me, and I feel like it would be dulled or something if I always talked about it in magazines or whatever. It”s my special thing.
Do you want us to not include it in this?
Oh, I mean, it”s OK. It was super cute, though-for some reason we were holding hands and just staring into each other”s eyes and talking, and I was like, This is David Bowie”s hand, what am I doing? It was insane. A beautiful moment.
5. Okay, this one makes me feel really old:
Tavi: When people started to look at “Royals” as a critique of hip-hop, how did you react and feel?
Lorde: I mean, it”s one thing for kids who fight in the comments section of YouTube and who use “gay” as an insult to take offense at what you”re doing; but when it”s highly intelligent writers, all of whom you respect, you start to question what you”re doing and if you have done something wrong… But I”m glad that people are having discussions about it and informing me about it. Also, I wrote that song a few months into being 15, and now I”m a 17-year-old looking back on that, and I didn”t know then what I know now, so I kin1d of am not too hard on myself.
6. So… no jacuzzis with champagne, then?
Tavi: As we said, you have very smart fans, and they”re aware of your life. Where do you go from here, do you think?
Lorde: It”s true-if I wrote my next record about the same stuff I wrote my first record about, I think people listening would be able to tell that I didn”t believe it. I”m in a weird position, because obviously I am experiencing being able to buy things that I couldn”t afford before. And I have sat in the back of a car with tinted windows and wanted to unroll the windows but couldn”t. And there is a loneliness that comes with that, but then I worry that I”m gonna sound like people who are like, “I”m in a jacuzzi with champagne, but I”m really sad!” So I”m in an interesting place creatively. But I think people would appreciate me writing honestly rather than writing something that would be very easy for everyone to relate to.
Awesome. Love them. #hashtags.
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