Lorde: Criticism of looks, body 'rocked my foundations'

Lorde felt "rocked" by criticism she faced when she became a global star at the age of 16. Photo / Getty Images

Lorde felt "rocked" by criticism she faced when she became a global star at the age of 16.

The 20-year-old New Zealand singer, who was catapulted to fame with the release of her internationally successful debut single Royals in 2013, also said she "sucks at being famous".

Lorde, whose real name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor, told the British NME magazine that becoming so regarded in her teens came with its downsides, although she felt she was becoming "less famous" as she got older.

She said, of her rise to fame: "When it was happening, I was quite overwhelmed by it.

"But that was a long time ago.

"If anything, I've slowly been getting less famous since Royals was really big. Which is totally cool for me ...

"I suck at being famous. And that's fine."

She added, of the negative remarks she saw at the time: "It rocked my foundations and could have ****** me, you know?

"I remember being made aware of my looks and my body in a way that I had never been.

"I remember all these kids online, I think I beat their favourite people to number one, and they were like, '**** her, she's got really far apart eyes'.

"I remember being like, 'Whoa! How did I get all this way without knowing I had far apart eyes?' Just weird **** like that."

Lorde is gearing up to release her second album Melodrama, the follow-up to her 2013 debut LP Pure Heroine.

Of her new music, she said: "The first record was 'we' and 'us'. And this record is 'I'. The focus does close in."

- NZN