When media outlets refer to an interview published in May 2013 as “new,” one’s misinformation sensor should be worked into a frenzy.
The world does not always work as it should.
And for some reason, the response to early media misinformation was not to laugh off the suggestion that Lorde, who has repeatedly praised the artists, was dissing Nicki Minaj and Drake but to disseminate it further.
Aware that the story had made headlines across the globe, the singer-songwriter had no choice but to personally shoot the suggestion down on Twitter Tuesday night.
“Nice try @ComplexMag, but i have nothing but love and admiration for both nicki and drake (have said this x1000),” wrote Lorde. “Just because their songs aren’t my reality (being 17 and from auckland) doesn’t mean i don’t admire their musicianship and careers!”
While Lorde’s Tweet was directed at Complex, that specific publication was not the only one way to weigh in. Hundreds, many of which carry strong reputations within entertainment circles, reported the same basic story.
The story claimed that in a “new” piece with Interview Magazine, the “Royals” artist ripped Minaj and Drake, as well as Lana Del Rey, as irrelevant. In fairness, Lorde’s comments did open the door for that interpretation:
Around the middle of last year I started listening to a lot of rap, like Nicki Minaj and Drake, as well as pop singers like Lana Del Rey. They all sing about such opulence, stuff that just didn’t relate to me—or anyone that I knew. I began thinking, “How are we listening to this? It’s completely irrelevant.”
There was just one problem. According to Interview Magazine, the comment was actually published on May 14, 2013. It was not a “new” piece.
And even if the involved journalists could not be bothered to look up the date on the Interview website, the references to Lorde being sixteen (she is now seventeen) and focuses on her “The Love Club” EP (she has already released her studio album “Pure Heroine”) should have provided dead giveaways that the interview was not new.
If such little care could be put into determining the date of the interview, then it is reasonable to assume reporters overlooked Lorde’s history of praising the two artists in the public sphere.
After all, one who did even a hint of research would have stumbled on an article like this one, in which Lorde called Minaj an “important female in pop.”
Was Lorde addressing a disconnect between the life she–and her peers–knows and the one sung about by popular recording artists? Certainly. But one did not need a “new interview” to learn that about the breakthrough artist: the lyrics in her hit song “Royals” make it very clear.
Using Lorde’s comment to set the tone for a piece on her songwriting style is completely acceptable; her perspective on opulence has been documented many times before.
Using the comment to suggest that Lorde is uninterested in mirroring the lyrical style of the aforementioned artists would also be reasonable.
But those even remotely aware of Lorde–or remotely interested in getting a story right–would know that she is not baiting Nicki Minaj and Drake into a feud.
