Selfies aren’t going away anytime soon, and that’s a fact. There are #SelfieSaturdays that encourage all of Instragram to take a photo of their weekend beauty, beauty and fashion bloggers who have seriously made a career out of turning the camera back on themselves, and even articles that academically question the good, bad and or so fab reasons why selfies may or may not be good for your self-esteem.
Generation Y is obsessed with the taking of the personal pic, and doing so is no longer considered stuck-up or self-obsessed. For better or worse, the selfie seems to be here to stay and just like all those who have made names for themselves in the past by sticking to or completely avoiding the most trendy of culture’s endeavors, celebrities have also taken to the habit.
Miley Cyrus is infamous for her twerk, and her ability to take a selfie of it (that’s Gen Y talent right there”> and Rihanna gets thousands of retweets every time she posts a selfie (generally sans pants or clothes in general”>. But there is one Gen Y’er who has, like so many of the most famous and most admired in history, avoided the current trend, opting instead for anonymity and a controlled, albeit hardly existent, public image: Lorde.
In fact, not only does Lorde, aka 16-year-old Ella Yelich-O’Connor, not take or post selfies, she’s also pretty tired of rappers consistently talking about money. Plus, for the one public image that she does have, she has chosen to take after royal figures and David Bowie alike in choosing a photo with a pouch. Yep, that’s a dog.
Everything about 16-year-old Ella, who goes by stage name Lorde, is an anomaly for her generation. With a natural make-up look, a black dress that nearly covers her entire body and natural hair to boot, Lorde is a confident young woman able to see the irony in her generation’s culture.
She calls out rappers in her hit single Royals, saying, “I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh. Crystal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece, jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.” Only later to come back to the money issue, letting her audience know that she understands that it is all about a fantasy.
Ahead of the crowd? Yes. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t in-tune with her peers. According to Interview magazine, Lorde released Royal free to her fans, given that people her age don’t have credit cards, and she wanted them to be able to listen despite of that fact. Talk about thinking things through.
Overall, Lorde’s limited web exposure and literally one released photo is mind-boggling for this century’s web obsession that centers around life documentation online. But Lorde is too smart for that – wanting to create an image that she can control with each photo, song and music video release. The girl is well on her way to standout stardom – and it’s pretty clear that unlike those who came before her (aka Taylor Swift”>, those curls aren’t going anywhere.
Check out her single Royals here, for free.
Photo courtesy of Interview magazine