I’m not going to lie. I know practically nothing about Lorde and couldn’t name more than one song off the top of my head. That one song is “Royals,” which also happens to be the first single she released way back in 2013.
I bring up her Lorde-ship because I’ve been making my way through the songs on the Postmodern Jukebox YT channel, listening to their retro covers while hanging out at home or doing chores. Any time a Puddles the Sad Clown version of something starts up, I take a pause to watch the performance and give them my full attention. Puddles and his band of chic jazz players did a version of “Royals” around the time the song came out and became an instant indie hit.
As I mentioned earlier, “Royals” was Lorde’s debut single from her first EP titled “The Love Club,” which was self-released on SoundCloud in 2012, before its official release the next year.
The single was an instant hit, topping charts worldwide for weeks and selling 10 million units, making it one of the highest-selling singles of all time. Lorde was 14 years old when she co-wrote this song with Joel Little, who was in the New Zealand pop-punk band Goodnight Nurse. 14 years old, that’s just insane.
From July 2013 to October, the single entered the Billboard 100 at 90 and quickly climbed to number 1, replacing Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.” The young Lorde proved to be a force of nature in the Indie Pop world, standing herself amongst other pop greats of the era, and continues to release charting music, selling out arenas around the world to this day.
“Royals” is just one of those songs. You hear it and you’re hooked. A modern classic pop song, if you will, and it feels like the epitome of the early 2010s alt-pop girlie tunes. It stamped Lorde’s sound and image into the minds of millions, as she continues to inspire and work with new, younger up-and-coming pop stars of today.
Puddles wasted no time, releasing his version of the song on Halloween 2013, just weeks after the song hit number 1 on the Billboard charts. This version is in their classic, slightly kooky, smooth retro-lounge-lizard style. Feels like it could be playing at a bowling alley in the ’70s in the Midwest, right after “Sweet Caroline” plays for the third time of the night.
The real fun comes from the contrast between this version’s vintage sound and its modern lyrics. Hearing lines like “…But every song’s like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin’ in the bathroom,” sung by a somber clown, is just good, silly fun. Even without the video, the cover is enjoyable, but seeing everyone perform with totally blank expressions adds surreal enjoyment.
The piano lines, combined with the bouncing drum groove, make for a really pleasant instrumental for Puddles to sing these lyrics over. It creates a real charm. The chorus is, in my opinion, where this song shines. His voice is pushed further here, contrasting the almost spoken, rhyme-heavy verses.
I found myself singing it to myself for the rest of the day after I found it. It has just enough of a likeness to the original that you recognise it, but it gives you plenty of new material to latch onto and enjoy. Another hit variation coming out of the Puddles Pity Party camp, and I am disappointed that I hadn’t heard it already.