Musicians on Musicians: Lorde & David Byrne - Rolling Stone

Oct 15, 2021

Lorde and David Byrne photographed in Brooklyn on August 8th, 2021.

“I don’t even know where to start, David.

Byrne: I’m not as introverted as I used to be?

Byrne: Yeah.

Lorde: No, it’s great to say hi.

And it’s not crazy conversations — just kind of mundane things.

I’m happy working on my own, whether it’s on a song or something else.

They like people dining alone, I think because we’re less irritating.

There’s nothing to be ashamed of, that’s just what I do.

If that is showmanship, that’s one of the coolest, craziest things.

Lorde: That’s very nice of you.

Lorde: It’s funny that you say that.

When I released “Royals” on my SoundCloud, just for free, I quickly heard from an American record company, and they were like, “For the real version, you might need to put a bit more into it.” “Oh, this is the real version!”.

Lorde: Yeah.

It’s that Ira Glass quote that I’ve always liked, where he talks about being young: You have taste, but you don’t have skill.

I’m jealous of songwriters that can put specific things in a song.

I lived there in the mid-Eighties, so I know what that’s like.

Byrne: Yeah?

I use specificity a lot because I like treating my work like a little map that is just for me.

Byrne: I don’t mind.

Byrne: Just one tour [in 1989].

It’s not like a movie, where you’re not expected to do that scene that you did: “The one before that we really liked.

Lorde: True, that’s a funny way of thinking about that.

Byrne: But it’s also true that music has a different thing.

Byrne: I think I default to more ambiguous, abstract lyrics.

I realized I love a song that’s all questions, but I don’t write too many of them.

Lorde and David Byrne photographed in Brooklyn on August 8th, 2021.

I was maybe afraid that if things sounded too pretty, then it was shallow.” — David Byrne.

I don’t think in the beginning I was able to do it—?

I remember, probably like a lot of people, buying these songbooks from different artists, just kind of learning the songs.

Sometimes things I didn’t really care for that much, but I thought, “Let’s see how this is done.” Maybe learn to play this on a guitar, and sing along, just for myself.

Byrne: Yes, there was a time when I thought things had to be edgy.

Lorde: I think of beauty as a real tenet of your work, for sure?

Lorde: Well, I’m one of four children, and I had a lot of things that my sister had worn — not a lot of my own things, not much pocket money.

Lorde: I don’t have a good answer for that.

It’s a real problem that I’m trying to get on top of?

Byrne: I don’t have much of a ritual, that kind of a thing.

Lorde: I like that, that’s nice.

I’m often applying a piece right when it’s time to go, which maybe doesn’t help the stage fright.

I think it’s underappreciated as a creative art form?

It’s kind of like music in that way.

I’m not a recipe cook — I just do whatever I’m going to do.

Byrne: You mean chutney and things like that?

Lorde: Yeah, like a chutney and jam and some sort of savory something.

Byrne: That’s nice for your friends.

Lorde: OK, this is another question that might be, I don’t know, obvious.

Byrne: That’s a really tough one?

Byrne: Sometimes I might think that I have some wisdom that I should impart to somebody else — “You need to know this,” or whatever — but I also feel, who are you to be telling other people?

Lorde and David Byrne photographed in Brooklyn on August 8th, 2021.

Lorde: Here’s something I’m curious about.

I think of you as someone who is really plugged into the greater culture, and all things social.

Byrne: I’m not on social media.

“ But I’m not checking things?

Byrne: When social media started to emerge, I thought, “I think I have enough to do, rather than feeding this.” I was more concerned about my workflow than concerned about what other effects it might have.

Lorde: I actually find out about a lot of new things from newspapers on my phone.

Byrne: I’m aware that there’s things that happen — protest marches and things like that — that I would hear about from a friend, and I would say “How’d you know about that?” “On social media.” That’s some of the stuff I’m missing

That’s crazy, David