Growing up as a young child through the early to mid-2010s was certainly a fascinating time for people around my age. YouTube and Minecraft were the two biggest things I interacted with nearly every day during my childhood.

However, the nostalgia isn’t present there as I still watch YouTube almost every day and play Minecraft on certain occasions. However, the thing that makes me nostalgic about the 2010s is the music it produced.

Before Spotify and having unrestricted internet access with a new phone, a significant portion of my childhood media consumption involved the local radio stations in my mom’s car that played the “hottest” new songs and top hits of the week.

Amongst the dozens of songs played in my mom’s car, there have only been a select few that have truly stuck with me growing up, one of which is Lorde’s “Team.” I am well aware that “Royals” was the more popular single out of these two.

However, both my mother and my brother have a personal grudge against “Royals” because they felt it was too overplayed on the radio. Every time they heard the song, they’d quickly change the channel to avoid listening to it again.

Regardless, listening to “Royals” again after many years, I still find the song to be enjoyable.

Upon re-listening to the two songs recently, I decided to check out the album these singles came from. As it turns out, they came from Lorde’s debut album “Pure Heroine,” released on Sept. 27, 2013.

Before diving into the album, I decided to do a bit of research to gain a better understanding of what I am getting into.

One of the things that stands out about this album is that Lorde was only 16 years old when she released this album. It is rare when an artist as young as her releases a debut album to be met with large commercial success and critical acclaim from everyone.

This album also went on to be nominated for three Grammy categories, winning both Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Another artist who comes to mind who has done something similar to Lorde would be Olivia Rodrigo with her debut album “SOUR.” Rodrigo released her debut also as a teenager alongside achieving commercial success and being nominated for several Grammy awards too.

After my research, I was very eager to start listening to “Pure Heroine.”

Lorde’s debut is a pretty short album, containing only 10 songs with a total runtime of about 37 minutes, but those minutes flew by when I listened to it.

The album picks up on themes of modern youth, social status, materialism, consumerism and everything else in between. 

A majority of the songs play a very simple beat and rhythm in the background, but it’s Lorde’s heavenly, almost meditative voice that carries and shines through on each song she sings. 

For being only 16 years old at the time, her voice is so well-developed that it does not sound like she is 16.

Aside from that, the songs flowed really well together making it a very satisfying listen from start to finish.

My favorite new songs to come from this album are “Tennis Court,” “Buzzcut Season” and “A World Alone.”

I highly recommend this album to anyone who loves calm, dreamy pop music, as well as fans of “Royals” and “Team.” 

Davidsaver can be reached at [email protected].