Lorde Plots What Comes Next
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P2JW130000-0-A01300-1--------XA THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. We dnesday, May 10, 2017|A13 LIFE&ARTS blared Kate Bush’s highest-chart- BY NEIL SHAH ing hit “Running Up That Hill,” be- fore unveiling a more ambitious WHEN SHE RELEASES her sec- stage production than the bare- ond album “Melodrama” next bones, gothic atmospherics of her month, New Zealand pop star “Pure Heroine” tour. The new set Lorde faces a perennial problem in featured a translucent box where the music business: How to dancers acted out a party scene. broaden her appeal to the main- Lorde will mix bigger stages with stream while retaining the original smaller ones on her next headlin- fan base that made her a star. ing tour, Mr. Daniel says. Lorde, whose real name is Ella Beyond a2013 Samsung ad that Yelich-O’Connor,topped the charts featured“Royals,” Lordehas re- in 2013 with the watershed single jected most offerstolicense her “Royals,” acritique of pop’scelebra- music forcommercials or appear at tion of affluence. Her new40-min- corporateevents, marketing ex- utefollow-up album contains 11 pertssay.“Ican’t remember the songsabout being “a newborn number of times I’veasked adult,” the pop singer says.Itchron- them…and they haven’t wanted to icles one night at ahouse party. do it,” says Ryan Schinman, co- Thesophomorealbum presents founder of MayflowerEntertain- 20-year-old Lordewith two possi- ment, an entertainment-marketing ble directions: If she abandons consulting agency. her alternativerootsand veers “Sometimes at the end of the moretoward pop—a path takeN day, people canbebought—I’m not by her friend Taylor Swift—she sureshe can,” says Danielle Korn, risks alienating fans.Yet staying executivevicepresident at adver- the same,orbecoming lesscom- tising agencyMcCann Erickson. mercial—a strategypursued by Pearl Jaminthe 1990s and, more recently,rapper Kendrick Lamar— could mean stagnation in today’s streaming-dominated pop game. Helping Lorde navigate is Jona- than Daniel, a seasoned, unflashy manager who met Lorde at last year’s Coachella music festival. “In business, the hardest year is the first. In music, the hardest record is the second,” says Mr. Daniel, who also manages Australian singer-songwriter Sia. “My job is to anticipate, to set up a strategy, so Ella caN be protected but heard ‘You have to hold on to in a loud way.” Ron Perry, president of Lorde’s as much of yourself publisher SONGS Music Publishing, throughout as possible,’ says it’sunfair to artiststocom- parefollow-up albums to commer- says the singer. cial smashes with abig cultural im- pact likeLorde’sdebut “Pure Heroine,” which sold nearly 4mil- GES lion copies. IMA The singer in Lorde doesn’t work with an “When Nirvana put out ‘In ETTY concert recently. army of writers and producers, nor Utero,’ it wasn’t going to do what /G The ‘Melodrama’ pack her music with guest stars, a ‘Nevermind’ did,” Mr. Perry says. album cover, right. trend for many in pop music to- “It’s easy for me to say that, as WINTER day. There are no feature appear- her friend. But it’s hard to be KEVIN ances on “Melodrama.” her—and live that.” “Everybody definitely wants you Theyoungest solo artist to top to get in the room with, like, these the BillboardHot 100 singles chart MUSIC 20 people, at the start, when sinceTiffanyin1988,Lorde is afoil you’re making a record. It’s very to sunnier pop icons such as Katy fuNNy. It’s like, ‘Okay, take what Perry. In lyrics to the song “Still you did and now—don’t do it,” Ms. Sane,” she embraces her ordinari- Lorde Plots What Yelich-O’Connor says. “It was so ness: “Still likehotels and my new- important to me to be able to rec- found fame /Hey,promise Ican stay ognize myself in the work.” good.” And she criticizes group- Discussing marketing guidelines think: “I’m kind of over getting told with Mr. Daniel, Ms. Yelich-O’Con- to throw my hands up in the air,” nor jokingly asked him: “What she sings on the single “Team.” Comes Next would Kanye do?” Mr. West has a In an interview, Lorde discussed reputation for making a big splash wanting to make a bigger-sound- commercially yet maintaining an ing pop record—like the ones she anti-commercial stance. grew up on—yet needing to main- Ms. Yelich-O’Connor says it’s tain her integrity. With her second album ‘Melodrama’ out soon, the pop star discusses the important to stay grounded and It started when she parted ways the main way she does so is by liv- with manager ScottMaclachlan and choice she faces of going big and mainstream or trying to keep her edge ing in New Zealand—near her Joel Little,who co-wroteand pro- mother, father, three siblings and duced “PureHeroine.” Mr.Perryof close friends. Her mother Sonja, a SONGS,which signed apublishing outpouring. “I was newly single, within situations—situations likea somber,unadorned piano ballad. poet and confidante, accompanies deal in 2013 with Lorde, began play- living alone. I felt so new in so party,orabreakup,” Ms.Yelich- She performed both in March on her on travels. “It keeps the writ- ing abiggerrole,helping her inter- many ways,” she says. “All of a O’Connor says.The highs and lows SaturdayNight Live, one of TV’s ing coming from a very normal viewpotential musician partners. sudden you’re just spewing out a of aparty areamotif,Ms. Yelich- most powerful promotional vehi- place, I hope,” she says. She eventually chose Jack An- record.” A year of early work on O’Connor says,for the pains of be- cles.“Thehope is people will hear “You have to hold on to as much tonoff, a friend through Taylor “Melodrama”—material that coming an adult. “Likeatoddler, both songs, be drawnin, and not of yourself throughout as possi- Swift who co-wrote and co-pro- sounded too much like “Pure Hero- youhavetoteethe all over again.” knowwhat’snext,” Mr.Daniel says. ble,” Ms. Yelich-O’Connor says. “If duced two songs for Ms. Swift’s ine”—was shelved. “Green Light,” the first single, Unlikeher friend Taylor Swift, you go through that tunnel and “1989,” the 2014 album where she Unlike“Pure Heroine,” which has edges towards mainstream pop, Lordegives the impression that you don’t hate yourself at the end, decisively left country for pop. aunified sound—minimalist pop but contains an abrupt musical she doesn’t plan to conquer the and you don’t hate everyone Working with Mr. Antonoff, a melodies and hip-hop and dance shift—a key change—rare for Top English-speaking world. Instead, around you, and they don’t hate member of the band fun., and beats—“Melodrama,” due June 16, 40 radio. The song, released March she’shinted that she’saiming for you, you’ve probably done okay.” someone she knew, “made it easier is musically varied, according to Mr. 2, reached No. 19 on the Billboard amedium-sizelevel of fame that to open up,” says Mr. Perry. Daniel. He compares the album’sdi- chart on March 25. givesher artistic freedom and re- In late 2015, Ms. Yelich-O’Con- versity to Prince’s1987 album “Sign By contrast, “Liability,” another sembles her heroes—KateBush, Experts Weigh In nor’s breakup with boyfriend ‘O’ the Times.” “The record is about song on the album that wasre- Robyn, Florence+the Machine. Branding pros discuss how they James Lowe sparked a creative howthere’ssomuch within people, leased March 9, is averydifferent, At this year’s Coachella, Lorde would advise Lorde ........................ A15 WORK & FAMILY | By Sue Shellenbarger IS YOUR OFFICE VISUALLYNOISY? AFTER TAKING DOWN walls to joking. Her desk was near several createopen offices and foster lots colleagues’ desks. Blocking out of interaction and collaboration, their movement was a constant some companies arefinding they’ve struggle. “I could barely ever fo- done the job toowell. All of this so- cus,” says Ms. Spivak, marketing cial engineering has created endless and communications director for distractions that draw employees’ SaN Francisco-based Segment. eyes away from their ownscreens. Her company overhauled its lay- Visual noise, the activity or out when it moved to new offices movement around the edges of an in April. Its former space was like employee’s field of vision, caN a warehouse, creating “these long erode concentration and disrupt lines of sight across the work- analytical thinking or creativity, space, where you have people you research shows. While employers know and recognize moving by have long tried to quiet disruptive and talking to each other. It was sounds in open workspaces, some incredibly distracting,” CEO Peter are now combating visual noise Reinhardt says. too. The answer could be as low- Segment’s new offices still have tech as strategically placed plants open workspaces, but the setup is or more drab wall colors. more like a labyrinth, with walls, GMENT SE “I wish there were such a thing corners and large potted and as human blinders,” Maya Spivak hanging plants separating employ- VENELL/ wrote when the software company ees’ desks from passersby, “almost she works for asked her in a sur- like a jungle,” Mr. Reinhardt says. UREN LA vey last year how she felt about (The plants help keep the noise Large plants and private workspaces shield employees from passersby at Segment, a San Francisco software company. her workspace. She was only half- Please see OFFICE page A15.