10 Amazing Songs Written In 30 Minutes Or Less
6. Lorde – Royals
Be honest, when you were fifteen years old, could you even finish your homework in half an hour? I know I couldn’t. But pop idol Lorde is better than both of us, and she managed to write the all-conquering worldwide hit Royals in just under thirty minutes. Not sure about her homework, though.
Talking to Billboard in 2013, the New Zealander said the following: “I wrote it in, like, half an hour – the lyrics anyway. I wrote all the lyrics and took them to the studio and my producer was like, ‘Yeah, this is cool’.”
Considering that they were written in such a short time and by such a young person, the lyrics to Royals are very impressive. Lorde deftly criticises consumerism in general, but more specifically the extravagant life often glorified in contemporary hip hop songs. She cites Kanye West and Jay-Z’s 2011 collaborative album Watch the Throne and its frequent references to alcohol, cars, and women, as a particular inspiration for her lyrical themes.
Lorde would later admit that she has a somewhat love-hate relationship with her breakout single, stating that it makes her cringe to hear it after all these years. Be that as it may, there is no denying how successful and how beloved by fans it still is.