新西蘭16歲神祕女孩網絡爆紅,也許將是未來歌后

A wavy-haired 16-year-old from the suburbs of New Zealand has captured the attention of her home country (population: 4.5 million). Now the pop singer is working on conquering the rest of the world.

一名來自新西蘭郊區、擁有一頭波浪捲髮的16歲女孩引起了本國國民（該國共有450萬人）的關注。現在，這名流行音樂歌手又踏上了征服全世界的征程。

Discovered at a talent show when she was 12 years old, Ella Yelich-O'Conner has spent the last four years honing her skills on a development deal with Universal Records near her home on the outskirts of Auckland. In November, she posted her first EP, 'The Love Club, ' free online. The music was marked by full-bodied vocals and knowing lyrics that belied the singer's age. Identified only as her stage name, Lorde, the artist kept her true identity a mystery for months. The only available representation of her was a drawing of a girl holding a snake.

她原名埃拉•葉利奇-奧康納(Ella Yelich-O'Conner)，於12歲時在一次才藝秀上嶄露頭角。過去四年間，按照與環球唱片公司(Universal Records)的演藝發展合約，她一直在她家附近的奧克蘭郊區打磨自己的唱功。去年11月，她在網絡上發佈了其首張細碟《The Love Club》，該碟可免費下載。她嗓音醇厚，歌詞有洞察力，這掩飾了她的真實年齡。她還隱瞞了自己的真實身份數個月之久，在這段時間裏大家只知道她的藝名──Lorde。此外，她唯一示人的形象就是一幅畫像，畫中的女孩懷抱着一條蛇。

In an age of instant gratification, this elusive approach to publicity is increasingly popular among labels and artists. It's a delicate courtship in which musicians must seduce success without seeming like they want it. But while playing hard to get can earn an artist respect, it doesn't guarantee record sales.

在一個講求即刻獲得滿足的時代，這種讓人難以捉摸的宣傳方式越來越受到各品牌和藝人的青睞。它是一種精明的吸引關注的手段，歌手必須要表現出毫不在意的樣子來獲取成功。不過，施欲擒故縱之計雖能讓藝人獲得重視，但它並不能保證唱片的銷量。

'I always say mystery makes history, ' said Charlie Walk, executive vice president of Republic Records, whose Lava imprint signed Lorde this spring. Mr. Walk has been working with a team of Lava employees on raising Lorde's profile. He oversees strategy, which includes marketing and promotion. 'But, ' he said, 'a funny thing happens when you don't promote: nothing.'

共和唱片(Republic Records)執行副總裁查利•沃克(Charlie Walk)稱：“我一直都說神祕感創造歷史。”該公司旗下的Lava唱片公司在今年春季簽下了Lorde。沃克一直在與Lava的職員合作，來提升Lorde的知名度，他負責包括營銷和推廣在內的宣傳策略。他說：“不過，如果你不做推廣的話，有趣的事情就會發生，那就是落得平淡無奇。”

In Lorde's case, things escalated quickly after the online debut of her EP last November. Her song 'Royals' was quickly picked up by New Zealand blogs and rose to the top of the country's iTunes charts. Universal Music Group released the EP in the U.S. in March. In May, Lorde released a music video for the song that received more than 100, 000 views within 24 hours (it is now above three million).

以Lorde爲例，在她的細碟於去年11月首發之後，其知名度迅速躥升。她的單曲《Royals》迅速得到新西蘭各博客的青睞，一舉升至該國iTunes排行榜榜首。環球音樂集團(Universal Music Group)於今年3月在美國發行了這張細碟。Lorde在5月份還爲這首歌發佈了一段音樂視頻，這段視頻在24小時內即獲得100,000次點擊量（現在它的點擊量已經超過300萬）。

On June 14, she became the first New Zealand artist to simultaneously have four songs in the country's top 40. 'Royals' is now getting airplay around the world and according to Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan, it is the first song by a solo female artist to hit the top 10 of the alternative-music chart in the U.S. since 1997, when Fiona Apple's 'Criminal' reached No. 4. Lorde is currently working on a full-length album slated for release Sept. 30.

6月14日，Lorde成爲新西蘭首位同時有四首歌打入該國音樂排行榜前40名的歌手。現在，《Royals》正在全球各地播放，根據Billboard排行榜及尼爾森音樂統計(Nielsen SoundScan)的數據，它是1997年以來第一首由獨唱女歌手演唱的登上美國另類音樂排行榜前10位的歌曲，當年菲奧娜•阿普爾(Fiona Apple)的《罪犯》(Criminal)登上了該榜單的第四位。目前Lorde正忙着錄製一張全長專輯，該專輯預定於9月30日發行。

In early August, she will perform in New York and Los Angeles. Both shows, her first U.S. appearances, are her label's attempt to personally present Lorde to industry insiders, music journalists and bloggers. 'It's a process, but we want her to play the right venues, do the right press, licensing her music in the right places, and so on, ' said Jason Flom, the president of Lava Records, which, like its parent label, Republic, is owned by Universal Music Group.

Lorde還於8月初在紐約和洛杉磯舉辦了演出，這兩場演出是她在美國的首秀，是其唱片公司爲了向業界人士、音樂記者和博客作者直接推介Lorde的嘗試。Lava Records的總裁賈森•弗洛姆(Jason Flom)說：“這是一個過程，我們希望她在適當的場館演出，接受合適媒體的採訪，在恰當的地方授予她的音樂版權等等。”與其母公司共和唱片一樣，Lava Records也由環球音樂集團所有。

As the former CEO of Atlantic Records, Virgin Records and Capital Music Group, Mr. Flom is credited with discovering Tori Amos and Matchbox 20. After one listen to Lorde's EP 'The Love Club, ' which had been recommended by a friend of a friend in Australia, he hunted down the artist on Facebook and flew to New Zealand to see her perform and meet her parents. Mr. Flom said he considered bringing her to Los Angeles, New York and London to record with various producers, but ultimately decided not to interrupt her creative process.

弗洛姆曾擔任大西洋唱片(Atlantic Records)、維京唱片(Virgin Records)及Capital 音樂集團的首席執行長，被認爲是發掘託麗•阿莫斯(Tori Amos)與Matchbox 20的伯樂。在一位澳大利亞朋友的朋友的推薦下，他聽了一遍Lorde的細碟《The Love Club》，隨後便在Facebook上四處搜尋這名歌手，並飛到新西蘭觀看她的演出，還和她的父母見了面。他說他曾考慮把她帶到洛杉磯、紐約和倫敦與不同的製作人錄製唱片，但最終決定還是不去打斷她的創造過程。

The team at Universal is being prudent with publicity. Mr. Walk, of Republic Records, said he is working on creating partnerships with radio stations, concert venues and music publications or blogs that will circulate her music without catapulting it into the mainstream. Instead of sending her music to KIIS, a famous top-40 Los Angeles radio station, they've turned to San Francisco's Live105 and Chicago's Q101, alternative stations that 'start playing the good stuff way before everyone else, ' Mr. Walk said.

環球音樂的團隊對宣傳事務相當謹慎。共和唱片的沃克說，他正忙於和音樂電臺、演唱會場館和音樂刊物或音樂博客建立合作關係，請他們幫助傳播Lorde的音樂，但又不把它推入主流。而且，他們並沒有把她的歌曲發給洛杉磯排名前40的知名電臺KIIS，而是找到了舊金山的Live105和芝加哥的Q101，這兩家另類音樂電臺“早在所有人之前開始播出好音樂”。

This tight-lipped marketing strategy has been recently championed by French electronic producers Daft Punk, who have hidden behind their robot helmets for two decades. On a smaller scale, British producer Burial gained notoriety for maintaining his anonymity for the first two years of his career.

這種守口如瓶的營銷策略也得到過法國電音組合傻瓜朋克(Daft Punk)的採納，他們以機器人頭盔隱藏自己的真容達20年之久。實行這種策略時間較短的有英國電音歌手Burial，他因爲在演藝生涯的頭兩年一直隱瞞自己的真實身份而聲名遠揚。

Lorde uploaded her November EP without any accompanying biographical information. Two months later, she revealed her name and a photograph of herself. 'I wanted people to listen to it first, ' she said on a phone call from her recording studio. 'People started to get really aggressive about [the mystery], and almost angry. So I just released a shot of me and did a few interviews, because I didn't want it to feel like a scheme.'

在去年11月上傳其細碟時，Lorde沒有附上任何個人信息。兩個月之後，她公佈了自己的姓名及一張照片。她在錄音室接受電話採訪時稱：“我希望大家先聽聽我的音樂，後來大家開始（因爲神祕身份）變得氣勢洶洶，幾乎到了生氣的地步，所以我就發佈了一張我的照片，接受了幾次採訪，因爲我不想讓它給人以陰謀詭計的感覺。”

She said she took her cues from DJ culture. 'They have this dissonant cool about them, they're not starving for attention, ' Lorde said. 'Instant gratification can be boring. Mystery is refreshing, and rare in pop music.'

Lorde說她是從DJ文化得到啓發的。她說：“他們很酷，與世界保持距離，他們也不渴望得到關注。即刻得到滿足會讓人厭煩，神祕感則讓人精神一振，而且它在流行音樂界也很少見。”

Instead of cooing about boys or slinging sexual innuendos, her lyrics condemn conspicuous consumption and narcissistic self-promotion. And as the master of her own image (going by the name 'Lorde' was her idea), she keeps things light and low-key. She recently tweeted: 'My bank acc situation is way better, now I have twenty six dollars.'

Lorde歌曲的歌詞並不嘰嘰咕咕地談論男孩或拋出性暗示，而是批評鋪張炫耀的消費和孤芳自賞的自我吹噓。作爲自身形象的主宰者（取名“Lorde”是她本人的主意），她喜歡讓事情簡單明瞭和低調。最近她在推特上發文稱：“我的財務狀況大有改善，現在我的銀行賬戶裏有26美元了。”