After finding fame while still a teenager with the minimalist viral hit Royals, Lorde with her new music has turned to a more elaborate pop sound -- and more adult themes.
Like the album's first single, Green Light, Lorde sings of going out on the town. On Perfect Places, the setting is New York in the heat of the summer of 2016 - "another graceless night," she sings of the drinking and casual romance.
"I hate the headlines and the weather / I'm 19 and I'm on fire," Lorde sings to dance-pop that belies a melancholic synthesized bass-line.
As with her handful of other recent shows, Lorde turned the set into a tableau vivant with actors dining, dancing and fighting in a tinted-glass room elevated above the stage.
Among likely audience members -- Emely Paula Medina, newly employed at a New York juice bar. Lorde earlier in the week bought a blueberry smoothie from her and, in an exchange that went viral after Medina posted it online, Lorde invited her to the festival to celebrate her new job.
Lorde also brought out a guest to play guitar on Perfect Places - Jack Antonoff, the alternative rocker who worked closely with Lorde on Melodrama.
