{"id":97203,"date":"2025-10-22T15:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T15:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/97203\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T15:03:11","slug":"subverting-arena-show-taping-chest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/97203\/","title":{"rendered":"Subverting Arena Show, Taping Chest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor perhaps the first time in her career, Lorde<\/a> feels at home on stage. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a surprising notion for the 28-year-old pop star, who has been open about her debilitating struggle with stage fright since becoming a global phenomenon at 16 with the smash hit \u201cRoyals.\u201d But something about the UltraSound tour \u2014 which successfully transmits the raw, lay-it-all-bare energy of Lorde\u2019s fourth album \u201cVirgin\u201d<\/a> even at huge venues like Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum \u2014 is different.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s honestly been a completely transformative experience for me,\u201d Lorde tells Variety over Zoom from L.A., where she\u2019s resting before playing Las Vegas that night. Her signature brunette curls cascade over a cozy gray hoodie as morning light peeks through the window. \u201cA lot feels full-circle from my career starting 12 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMaybe that\u2019s because it\u2019s on her own terms. With the UltraSound tour \u2014 which wraps its sold-out U.S. leg on Wednesday night in Seattle before heading to Europe in November \u2014 Lorde sought to subvert every trope of what an arena show should be. She does outfit changes on stage (though her look is simple to begin with \u2014 just a T-shirt and jeans). She freely walks through the crowd, rubbing shoulders with her fans who in turn respect her personal space. Production gimmicks and visuals are kept to a minimum, with an on-the-ground camera crew capturing angles most pop stars wouldn\u2019t dare show. Fans and critics alike<\/a> seem to agree that the result is jarringly intimate and extremely affecting.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt makes me feel incredibly proud to be in something so plain where just enough happens, and then the missing piece is the audience, and they kill it every night. And I\u2019m in my fucking T-shirt and jeans!\u201d Lorde continues. \u201cThere\u2019s something very incredible about stripping it back to that degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Lorde takes Variety through her vision for the UltraSound tour, taping her chest on stage for \u201cMan of the Year,\u201d balancing nostalgia with newness in the setlist and more.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSam Penn<\/p>\n

\t\tWhen you set out to craft the tour, what was your original vision and how did it take shape?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cVirgin<\/a>\u201d is very raw and unadorned \u2014 I really tried not to dramatize or dress anything up \u2014 so I knew that approach had to continue over to the tour. It just sort of revealed itself along the way: I would try to impose something on it and it would reject it, you know? Even things like, What if I wear this? Anything that felt decadent or overly adorned seemed too rich in the show. I talked so much at the beginning of making this about wanting to see the [underlying] wires because that\u2019s a lot of the vibe of \u201cVirgin.\u201d Like, OK, you have this young woman and then here\u2019s all the guts underneath. <\/p>\n

\n\tWith an arena show there\u2019s this shininess \u2014 it\u2019s pretty sealed, you sort of don\u2019t know how the magic is happening. And I thought there was something really cool about actually harnessing all the guts and wires \u2014 which, to me, is such a beautiful part of music-making \u2014 and celebrating all of that.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd you have a camera crew following you throughout the show, literally showing all the wires.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was quite funny getting the camera crew on board with, \u201cOK, film this crazy patch of wires on the back of the stage.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cAre you sure?\u201d But yeah, it\u2019s very physical and visceral. It has the same feeling as seeing my acne, to me. Like, when you\u2019re seeing this maybe slightly more unflattering angle or the angle that you don\u2019t normally see, it all added up to be very intimate in the way that I want to be right now \u2014 this quite raw, intense intimacy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is the other thing: I\u2019ve always had such bad skin on tour. I\u2019ve always really struggled with my acne, and touring had become this\u2026 I\u2019d add more makeup and it would get worse and I\u2019d add more makeup. This year I was like, they can see exactly as you are, you might as well just lay it all bare and trust that you\u2019re beautiful. And seeing this sort of beautiful constellation on my face, it\u2019s totally part of the show and it has a good feeling.<\/p>\n

\t\tIt must be empowering to stand up there and just be you.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is. It\u2019s incredible. I\u2019ve just come to realize that, as an artist, you might as well decide that everything about you is a strength and something to be highlighted rather than saying, \u201cThese are the things that are wrong about me, and until they\u2019re right there will be something not right about my art.\u201d Bringing in all these things that I tried to push away has really made everything a lot cooler.<\/p>\n

\t\tI saw your surprise set at Glastonbury back in June, when you played \u201cVirgin\u201d live for the first time. How did that performance inform the tour?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMy big takeaway from that was like, \u201cYou need to go and do some dance.\u201d Because I felt not very in my body and I knew that it needed to be this freer, rawer movement. Walking offstage I was like, \u201cYou\u2019re going to choreo, bitch.\u201d And then it ended up being rawer than that, but I did spend a lot of time just trying to like get into these songs on a physical level. Glasto was so cool and really felt like a little test-kitchen presentation. I liked that it sort of lifted the top in quite a mysterious [way]\u2026 like people didn\u2019t know what they were going to get.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat was it like working out how dance plays a role in the show? You have a couple of dancers, too.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI worked with this awesome choreographer, Kian\u00ed Del Valle, and we gave [the dancers] a lot of very pedestrian movement. Sitting somewhere, putting on shoes, eating an apple, listening in headphones that sort of progresses into something a bit wilder. I was just trying to build it in a way that would work on me. I think I\u2019ll respond to dance if it\u2019s on one of two levels: really pedestrian or really animal and kind of untamed. And rather than anything that felt too much like choreo, that was the tone I wanted to take it to. And it does feel very Lorde [laughs]. It\u2019s funny how that works.<\/p>\n

\t\tYour outfit changes are also very minimal, and you do them on stage. What\u2019s the significance of that?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI liked the idea of the audience getting to see that change, because it\u2019s a very simple change. You know, a belt comes off, jeans come off, a T-shirt comes off. And it becomes this different thing. It just fit with the rawness and the intimacy to do it in front of people. I tried to hold up all these tropes of an arena show and be like, why is it like that? How can we keep the tension?<\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t think about this at the time, but I do think there is something cool about me not leaving the stage. Because definitely as an audience member, I can switch off a bit when the artist goes and gets changed. I know what they\u2019re doing and I\u2019m excited for them to come back, but it snips a thread, you know? Being on the whole time, there\u2019s this sort of intensity that grows. I can\u2019t touch up, I can barely get a drink of water. Sometimes I\u2019m like, \u201cOof, that would be nice actually, to go back and look cute for a second.\u201d But no, it\u2019s just how it\u2019s meant to be.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSam Penn<\/p>\n

\t\tSpeaking of water, your water bottle \u2014 which has become a bit of an icon itself \u2014 makes an appearance on stage with you and is currently your Instagram profile picture. Why?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s the thing, it\u2019s really just a water bottle. I don\u2019t know how else to explain it. It\u2019s a beautiful object and sort of became this personal talisman to me. I love the idea of finding magic in our everyday lives, and I have what I call \u201csticker brain\u201d \u2014 the sort of shimmery, sparkly stickers that I would use as a child, that all still activates me. So I saw this bottle and was like, \u201cMm, fabulous.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAll the things that we use for production moments are very simple. There\u2019s a treadmill, there\u2019s a big-ass fan, but there\u2019s poetry there and there\u2019s magic. But yeah, the water bottle is funny, I know. It\u2019s also like, the cap doesn\u2019t work great. She\u2019s not perfect. And she was very expensive, but I\u2019ve had her for three years now. I\u2019m like, some of you have definitely bought a new Stanley Cup in that time.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou also tape your chest on stage during \u201cMan of the Year,\u201d like in the song\u2019s music video. Why was it important to bring that moment on tour?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom before there was even an album, I knew that would be a really important thing to see live. It just felt like an image I had never seen, and it felt incredibly vulnerable and powerful to me. I feel kind of like a rockstar, like, wow, there\u2019s something really special about this. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhen we started doing it on the tour I realized, whoa, this is actually incredibly vulnerable. And through the course of the song, I become powerful. It empowers me. But it\u2019s quite amazing how it works on me as a device. I feel so bare in front of these people, and there is this sort of intake of breath in the room because it is just such a raw image. And that feels like exactly the work that I need to be doing. That\u2019s why I\u2019m playing an arena, is to give you this image.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd some fans have started taping their chests at your shows as well.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOh my God, fabulous. When I look out and I see these people, it\u2019s the sickest thing I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

\t\tYour setlist is a healthy balance of nostalgia with the new \u2014 how did you go about forming it?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWow, thank you, because I was kind of terrified about making the setlist. The challenge of being an artist in your eighth or 10th or 12th year is, how do I make sure that I\u2019m not leaving any of these old pieces behind? Because they still mean something to people and they\u2019re a part of me, and so it\u2019s gotta come forward, but sometimes it\u2019s hard. I was 14 or 15 when I wrote a couple of those songs, and we all know it can be hard to find something to identify with in those parts of you. <\/p>\n

\n\tI chose things that had the UltraSound qualities. There\u2019s definitely a strong rhythmic foundation under the whole show. I wanted it to move and really be physical. I also thought about the shared singing [with the crowd] factor, which is such a part of my shows. I\u2019ve gotta live in it every night and so it\u2019s gotta be something that is like magic to me. And the setlists keep changing, but the big challenge for me was the \u201cSolar Power\u201d of it all. I had to find a way to do that and we\u2019re still working out different things \u2014 I have all these different ideas for that. But I really like where we landed, not going the just-the-singles type route has made it feel like a part of it. But I miss some of those songs and I want to play them.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou also play \u201cRoyals\u201d second instead of during the encore, which may not be what people expect.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI really tried to build the show for the obsessive, you know? For the super fan. I don\u2019t really have many casual fans \u2014 you\u2019re sort of all in or you don\u2019t care, which I really love. So putting \u201cRoyals\u201d so soon, I thought about it like a film \u2014 how there will be a really exciting opening scene and then they\u2019re like, \u201cOK, hang on. I should probably explain. Let\u2019s go back a bit.\u201d Starting with \u201cRoyals\u201d after this really exciting opening scene of \u201cHammer,\u201d it helps you go on the journey to be like, \u201cThis is the first thing people heard.\u201d It\u2019s so cool, I still love playing that song so much. Same with \u201cRibs\u201d [during the encore]. It\u2019s so precious to them and I wanted them to just like totally fall apart at the end, and they do.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou walk through the crowd during \u201cDavid,\u201d which has become an incredibly intimate moment at your shows.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s the absolute highlight of my career, to be honest \u2014 it feels like some stuff has gone right for this moment to be able to happen. Because there is an insane amount of trust that these kids have in me to keep them safe, and that I have in them. And they are so just incredible and respectful and I have never felt unsafe in any way. It\u2019s so beautiful.<\/p>\n

\n\tI leave out the front door, you know, and I\u2019m in an Arc\u2019teryx jacket, very basic. I look like a commuter. And I always thought about it like, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve seen [the film] \u201cDrive,\u201d but there\u2019s this opening scene where Ryan Gosling has this crazy car chase and then he just puts on his baseball hat and sort of disappears into the crowd. That was kind of the inspiration, like, it\u2019s not about me. I\u2019m not trying to have you think that I\u2019m some God. I just have to embody all this stuff and then sort of dissolve. So going into the crowd and being in this very plain outfit \u2014 literally a shell \u2014 like I\u2019m ready for the commute and dissolving into them, and then they become the production. It\u2019s very astonishing. This moment where I\u2019m in the crowd and they\u2019re all fucking going for it is the most beautiful moment of the show.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSam Penn<\/p>\n

\t\tHow does it feel to be up close and personal with your fans for this song? Everyone is singing and some of them get quite emotional.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s so special. Something about breaking the boundary of I\u2019m up here and you\u2019re there, it really reminds me what it is that\u2019s happening. It\u2019s so different. With \u201cDavid,\u201d that was a song that we loved \u2014 it\u2019s the cool, weird closer of the album \u2014 but we never thought that it would become this. It really has meaning to people and they\u2019re out there singing it with their full throat, you know, it\u2019s so sick to me. And this is the cool thing about TikTok to me is like, they chose the sickest song [to blow up on the platform]. I wouldn\u2019t have chosen that to be any kind of like focus, but the fact that they chose it, there\u2019s something very pure about it.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve been open about your previous struggles with stage fright, but you seem very comfortable up there now. What are your daily rituals and tour must-haves that help you stay grounded?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m pretty lucky that my stage fright is at bay now, because that was really a big part of my life. What do I do? I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m a bit of a witch. I\u2019m always burning something, I\u2019m always writing something down before the show. Nothing too crazy \u2014 I do a bunch of push-ups and planks and shit.<\/p>\n

\t\tI also wanted to ask you about adding your name to the No Music for Genocide<\/a> boycott and geo-blocking your music in Israel. What was behind that decision?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think that as artists, how we speak is with our symbolic action, you know? And we wield this power in the form of our compositions. It\u2019s just one of those moments where to not act in line with my values would feel really wrong.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd obviously you\u2019re still touring \u201cVirgin,\u201d but have you had any inklings about how your sound may evolve next or when fans can expect new music?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI mean, I\u2019m excited to find out. I\u2019m definitely feeling very active and not needing a break from being creative. I\u2019m feeling kind of insatiable, to be honest. So I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019ve thrown the gauntlet down that it\u2019s not going to be four years [again], so I\u2019ve gotta keep to that.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For perhaps the first time in her career, Lorde feels at home on stage. It\u2019s a surprising notion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60,26427,17554],"class_list":["post-97203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lorde","tag-virgin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}