Lorde Drops the Mic While Eating Spicy Wings ｜ Hot Ones [qaoEyTZpv18].webm.wav.txt

 I'm not sure you need to read any further with that one.
 Yeah, I don't like it.
 [laughter]
 [music]
 Hey, what's going on, everybody?
 For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans, and you're watching Hot Ones.
 It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
 And today we're joined by Lorde.
 She's a two-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter,
 and she's back with her long-awaited, much-anticipated third studio album, Solar Power.
 The latest singles, "Stoned at the Nail Salon" and "Solar Power," are available now,
 as well as a multi-content tour set to begin next year.
 Lorde, welcome to the show.
 Thank you for having me.
 What's going through your head right now as you prepare to chow down this afternoon?
 Well, I am hungry. The wings look pretty good.
 But I just said to you before, I feel like I'm inside the internet.
 Like, it is a weird sensation to be here.
 So it's a little surreal, but I'm ready.
 (UPBEAT MUSIC)
 Oh, the handle. OK, good to know.
 Great.
 Mm!
 Delicious wing.
 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
 This is yummy.
 So as I touched on, you have an album on the way,
 and then feeding the fans in the meantime with your single,
 "Stone at the Nail Salon" and "Solar Power."
 And I've heard you talk about threads that run through your albums,
 like the house party motif and melodrama.
 Is there a theme or even a colour that you can identify in this,
 your most recent era of music?
 Totally, yeah. Well, the colour of melodrama was this kind of violet,
 this Egyptian violet. And this one was very much gold,
 kind of sun, sun, golden hour-type colour.
 I basically thought of the album as, like, a sun worship album.
 I'm not religious in any way, but my experiences in nature
 in the last couple of years were as close to what I had experienced as religion.
 So, yeah, it was like a sort of devotional record for me.
 That's how I thought about it, and just very gold and joyful.
 Mmm, nice flavour. Fruity.
 So far hitting right.
 Mmm, I like it, I like it.
 So nice to get a wing, my God.
 It's been too long.
 Just in the pop-style life, I feel like you're not, like,
 smashing wings that often, you know?
 You gotta look for an excuse like this, you know?
 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
 What do you think about the geniusification of music?
 Like, for music fans, what do you see as the pros and cons
 of an artist decoding their own lyrics?
 Wow. I...
 Actually, when, like, a big release comes out,
 one of the first things I will do is go, "Genius,"
 because I'm such a lyric nut.
 In the past, I'd always sort of thought it's all open domain,
 like, I sort of wasn't precious about any details.
 But as I get older, I find myself saying,
 "No, actually, I'm not gonna explain that song."
 Not because I necessarily need it left up to interpretation,
 but because it's about something that's very precious to me
 and that I feel weird about, like, commodifying via,
 you know, something like "Genius."
 But there's also sometimes the thing where
 the fans will annotate it, and they're like,
 "It has this many...
 "It's syncopated in this way, which represents this number."
 And I'm like, "Oh, no, no, no, no, it's too much."
 It's not that deep all the time, you know?
 But I like it.
 (upbeat music)
 - Some little bits in it?
 What are we talking here?
 - Yeah, and see how it's kind of clear,
 but then shake up the bottom.
 - Ah!
 So how often are you changing out these sauces?
 - So every season, you know,
 typically we'll do like a 12-episode season.
 And then put in our new symphony of hot sauces every time.
 - I love it.
 Well, to the third wing.
 - And this is kind of interesting.
 - Mmm!
 Yum.
 Smokey.
 - Big pepper bomb, that one.
 - Really different to the last one.
 Really good.
 - And a little bit spicier, even.
 - A little bit spicier.
 - But nothing Lorde can't handle.
 (laughing)
 - We're only on wing three, you know?
 I'm like, "Do I keep double biting,
 "or do I save the Scovilles?"
 (laughing)
 Do they layer on?
 Like, how does it work with the...
 - Oh, there's definitely a cumulative effect
 as you work your way through.
 - That's what I thought.
 - So to my knowledge, you're the first person
 from New Zealand that we've ever had in the hot seat.
 - That's sick!
 - So if you'll humor us, we're hoping to get a guide
 to the Kiwi lifestyle directly from the source.
 Hokey Pokey ice cream, overrated or underrated?
 - I like it, but I'm more preferential to a cookies
 and cream, which I know you have here,
 but I think of as like a very New Zealand ice cream.
 - I read that in New Zealand, sheep outnumber people
 something like 10 to one.
 - For those of us who aren't lucky enough
 to live in a part of the world
 where that type of thing is happening,
 how do you explain the allure of Devotion cheese?
 - I don't know, like I'm a bit of a cheese connoisseur.
 I love cheese, and kind of the zanier the better.
 Like I've never met a cheese
 that was too funky and crazy for me.
 So Devotion is actually pretty chill.
 It's a sheep's milk cheese, but it just has this,
 yeah, just this slight grassiness that I really like.
 (laughing)
 - I would bring you a lump, but I think that's illegal.
 - Oh really, to like, yeah, bring it into the--
 - Yeah, the pasteurization, I don't know.
 - So I gotta catch a flight.
 - Might not fly, you know, yeah.
 Come down and I'll do a cheese board.
 - Hell yeah, I'll take you up on that.
 All right, Laura, are you ready to move on here
 to the fourth one already? - I'm ready, I'm ready.
 - Hot Ones Barbacoa here.
 - Sick.
 This is a really delicious lunch.
 I'm not gonna lie.
 - So far. - So far.
 - So far. - At number four, yeah.
 - So I know that you love the growling tiger
 that's at the top of the bridge of your song Sober.
 Can you give us another example of being drawn to an effect
 in the Jack Antonoff Library of Strange Sounds?
 - So this album features a lot of cicada singing,
 cicada music. - And solar power.
 - And solar power, yeah.
 And that was something that I just started recording
 on my phone in New Zealand because the sound of cicadas
 to me, it's so emblematic of New Zealand summer.
 And I love the idea of immortalizing that on this record.
 So I did, I would just sort of go outside every time
 I would hear raging and get a little recording.
 But I didn't realize that this year's Brood X,
 which is this big kind of boom of cicadas,
 once every 17 years.
 The last time it happened was in 2004
 when I guess J.Lo and Ben Affleck were together
 and now they're back together.
 So people are like, oh, like Brood X, like it's in the air.
 So I guess I'm right on trend with my cicada moment,
 but I have been taking the recordings for a couple of years.
 I'm intrigued by this yellow guy, ginger goat.
 Pineapple and ginger, yummy.
 All right, Lauren, we have a recurring segment
 on our show called Explain That Gram.
 We do a deep dive on our guest's Instagram,
 pull interesting pictures that need more context.
 Challenge us a little bit with yours.
 We'll show you the pictures over here on the monitor.
 You just tell us the bigger story.
 This is during your Glastonbury
 and your Coachella performances.
 You ended up using this big glass box for dancers.
 And I'm curious, how seriously do you think
 about stage design?
 I don't know, like making music is amazing,
 but you can do that on a very small scale
 in your bedroom, but designing a tour,
 like that's real shit, you know, that costs real money.
 I'm always like, I always feel like it's such a privilege
 to be like, let's make this thing out of steel and glass
 and then it shows up, you know?
 So super important to me.
 Whoa, I just like touched like a-
 Yeah, that was close.
 I saw the eyebrows.
 That was gripping, yeah, it was gripping the table.
 I am a little, I'm gonna use like a pinky.
 Okay, so I'm pretty excited when I go to a show
 and it's something more real, you know,
 or more kinetic.
 So the box was a really cool thing to get to make.
 And you look down on the crowd, like I remember,
 it's very surreal.
 And then when you have all those different moving parts,
 you know, and multimedia presentation,
 is there a time where the technology has failed you
 during a live show?
 Oh yeah, yes, actually, oh my God.
 We played this festival called Bonnaroo
 and it was like roasting hot
 and our gear just started frying.
 And I was just standing on the side of the stage
 waiting to go on.
 There was a comedian called Hannibal Buress.
 He's done the show, I know Hannibal, yeah.
 So he was there and I didn't know who he was at the time,
 but he was like, "Do you want me to go on and do a sit
 to like keep them?"
 And I was like, "No, like who is this person?"
 I was like, "I'm very stressed out."
 I probably should have taken him up on the offer
 'cause he's a bit of a genuinely funny person.
 So thank you, Hannibal.
 I feel like this is me fighting against evil.
 You're not gonna lose to a wing.
 You're not gonna let a chicken wing.
 Yum, tea got myself like a little Indian energy.
 Curry vibe.
 Yum.
 You really get that cumin
 and you're getting a real profile.
 Check it out.
 Wow, coconut milk.
 Ginger, cumin, garam masala.
 Love it.
 Speaking to you.
 Like it.
 So you're an artist like Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean,
 somebody who actively avoids the spotlight
 when you're in between projects.
 And then you have that line in "Solar Power"
 about throwing your cellular device under the water.
 Can you reach me?
 No, you can't.
 How do you think about creating that distance
 between yourself and public attention?
 Like, is it just all about isolating yourself
 so that you can create without distractions
 or is it you yearning for a sense of personal privacy?
 It's a combination of those two things.
 I am by nature a very private, introverted person.
 So it sort of suits me better.
 But also I think there's a certain kind of zone
 you can get in when people are gassing you up
 and telling you real shit all the time.
 You know, I didn't, I felt, you know,
 obviously I sort of became well known super young.
 16 is a time when so much is changing about yourself.
 And I feel like I made a real choice at that age
 to not really let that validation change my day
 because you could be, you know,
 maybe not showing up for your loved ones.
 And it's just a slippery slope, I think.
 I feel like I'm being boring.
 I'm not like-
 No, no, no.
 I'm not sizzling out, like, but it's delicious.
 I'm loving the wags.
 Well, this next one-
 Stinks fucking oaf.
 (laughing)
 I'm about to eat my words.
 Might change things.
 Sick, sick.
 So this is hotter than Al.
 Hotter than Al.
 Mm.
 I taste that scotch bonnet.
 Wow.
 Fruity.
 Can you taste it though?
 I mean, you can. Yeah, but I like that
 you have a palette that can sense the scotch bonnet.
 I love to cut.
 That's nice.
 Is it unwise to double bite at this point?
 Let's just go.
 Yummy.
 Hell yeah.
 Dude, you just like dabbed my nose.
 I feel like, don't wanna touch it.
 Okay.
 Yum.
 So I know that you led your middle school
 to a second place finish in the 2009 Kids Lit quiz
 world finals.
 Oh yeah, yeah.
 I was like, what's this gonna be?
 My Battle of the Bands debut perhaps?
 The literature, literature finals.
 Thank you so much.
 Yeah, one of my finest achievements, honestly.
 And then recently you changed your Instagram bio
 to be a quote by Joan Didion.
 Do you have a favorite literary reference
 from one of your songs or music videos?
 That's a really good question.
 Definitely for this last album,
 something, a quote that I thought about a lot
 by a writer called Annie Dillard was,
 "How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives."
 I've been thinking about
 The Midsummer Night's Dream recently, actually.
 That was something I read as a kid that I was so,
 it was so evocative, the kind of depictions of
 being outside in the sunshine, you know,
 these like kind of fairies and centaurs and stuff
 sort of frolicking.
 So I went back and read some of that
 and it, you know, obviously still holds up.
 Shakespeare still holds up.
 Don't know if you know that about it, but it's the shit.
 This one's pretty dark in a way
 that looks a little concerning.
 Sizing it up.
 (dramatic music)
 It's almost bitter.
 There's not a lot of redeeming qualities.
 You know, I saw how you checked out
 the teacup masala ingredients.
 I'm not sure you need to read any further with that one.
 Yeah, I don't like it.
 No one does.
 So that's been around for a while?
 For this reason, you know.
 I feel it.
 Yeah.
 The thinness is really the overwhelming quality.
 Wow.
 But your composure through this thing,
 it's a sight to behold.
 It's hot, it's hot.
 Last month you published a photo book called "Going South,"
 which chronicled your trip to Antarctica.
 What's the most memorable experience you had
 with wildlife in the South Pole?
 It's been kind of a theme throughout this season.
 We had David Harbour on and he went to visit the penguins.
 Oh, that's right.
 You know about David Harbour going to see the penguins.
 I actually do.
 He went to Antarctica also because not many people go there.
 So I think I saw him and I was like, "Hmm, tell me more."
 Well, I had this crazy experience.
 I went out with a whale scientist
 on this like midnight whale tracking expedition.
 And we went in this helicopter
 and they had like all the doors and windows open,
 which seemed insane to me, but...
 (dramatic music)
 It is hot.
 And yeah, we just kind of flew along the ice shelf
 because you can't fly over open water in Antarctica
 because it's so dangerous.
 So this crazy surreal experience of it being midnight
 and we're like flying over this kind of channel,
 looking for these orca, still to this day,
 like I don't think I have done anything cooler than that.
 And maybe Neville will, like, that's probably it.
 I'm doing good.
 It's, I do, yeah, I feel it.
 (laughs)
 You know, you said when you walked in, you're like,
 "Oh, I feel like I'm in the matrix, you know,
 seeing the black curtain and then..."
 Yeah, you're gonna edit the like, the zings onto me,
 the noise.
 (laughs)
 I need to like do an expression that you,
 I'll be like, "Ah!"
 (laughs)
 And I don't look crazy.
 Yeah, wait till you see what Colin does with that one.
 I'll wait.
 (dramatic music)
 I can imagine like people totally panicking,
 like it's a high stress.
 Way to do press.
 Sorry, my nose is just like pouring.
 (laughs)
 Whew, okay, okay.
 All right, so this next one is the scorpion disco.
 I love that name. The nine spot.
 Yeah.
 Funkin' hot.
 (laughs)
 (dramatic music)
 That's nice.
 That's a nice little way.
 Everything is a little bit easier.
 It's almost a two-biter.
 Oh, all right, well if you called two-biter.
 I like it.
 Mm, still my favorite flavor-wise was this jalapeno.
 Take it with you. That's nice.
 Take it with you. Really?
 Yeah.
 Shit, thank you.
 Whatever you want, whatever you want, Lorde.
 We're hookin' it up.
 Yum.
 So a lot has been made about your undercover Instagram account
 where you review onion rings, which was active
 at least as recently as last April.
 As an aficionado of the art form,
 what to you are the keys to a perfect onion ring?
 Okay.
 I want an onion that has been cut thickly.
 I'm not, you know, I want like kinda like this.
 I want a pretty toothsome vertical bite.
 I want a pretty crisp yet thick crust.
 You know, I want it to have some substance.
 I guess I'd probably more be into a battered than a crumbed.
 You're forced to make a choice, yeah.
 I'm forced to make a choice,
 so that's maybe the way that my buyer skews.
 I like a white onion, although I have had a few
 red onion rings that have, you know, caught my eye.
 But I feel like Chicago would be a good onion ring town.
 I don't know why I get that vibe.
 It just seems like the people were onion ringing.
 You know what, but that assumption, it's not misguided.
 It's true.
 It's an onion ring town.
 And what I find with an onion ring, you know,
 to me the minus points on an onion ring
 is when you bite in, you need the onion part
 to break on the bite.
 You know, sometimes you'll pull out.
 Nothing worse than the threads.
 And you'll just pull that thing right out.
 You don't wanna get down with that, no.
 That to me is what makes an onion ring sink or swim.
 Makes a mockery of the institution.
 I completely agree.
 Yeah, I want that separation to happen.
 Same page right there, Lorde.
 (laughing)
 Woo!
 (upbeat music)
 This is the last dab.
 We call it the last dab because of the tradition
 around here to put a little extra on the last wing.
 You don't have to if you don't want to,
 but I can see where this is headed.
 Oh, you can see where this is headed.
 (laughing)
 Okay, wait, I will get really checked.
 Oh, that's bomb.
 Unpleasant.
 It sticks with you.
 I feel bad for them that I've just started.
 Don't, you know what, don't.
 The sauce, but.
 Don't.
 By the years and years of celebrities accosting this sauce.
 Right, right.
 You know what I mean?
 It's going well.
 Any press is good press in the hot sauce game.
 So can I ask you, do you have like a crazy amount
 of hot sauces at home or are you like, ugh.
 I just can't think about hot sauce when I go home.
 So that's a good question.
 So when it comes to wings, I'm over wings.
 I don't want to eat another wing if I'm off the clock.
 And then everybody thinks of me as like a walking
 wing encyclopedia.
 Do you get like a wing sent over?
 Yes, all the time.
 It's like sweet onion rings.
 It's love, it's love, I appreciate it.
 But like every time I'll sit down, it's like, oh,
 and this is from the chef.
 And they'll like present me wings.
 And I'm like, all right, thank you.
 It's very sweet.
 But then also the other thing is like, I'll have friends
 that are like, I'm visiting Seattle.
 Like, where's the best spot to get wings?
 Like I have this encyclopedic knowledge of every wing spot
 in the country.
 Like I'm an expert on wings.
 So wings I'm over, I've turned the corner,
 but because of the show and perhaps counterintuitively,
 I have gained a new appreciation and love for hot sauce.
 Cause you meet all these different makers and you hear all
 these different stories.
 And then I've tried so many different kinds and seen the way
 that it elevates food and changes things
 on a culinary level.
 So to answer your question, I now love hot sauce even more.
 And I even have a whole, just you open a cabinet
 in my kitchen.
 Oh my gosh.
 It's just a hall of fame wall of hot sauce that goes like
 five shelves deep.
 I love that.
 I love that for you.
 I just did a hearty last time.
 Cheers.
 Cheers.
 Hey cheers.
 (laughs)
 Mmm.
 Yum.
 Look at that bonnet.
 Just enjoying, just out here having lunch Lord.
 Double bite.
 Oh no.
 The perils of wearing white on your wingshark.
 Mmm.
 Disaster.
 Okay Lord.
 That was really delicious.
 Finally, we've made it to the end here.
 And if we've learned anything all along the way,
 it's that you're a stalwart of pop music.
 Beautifully obsessed as evidenced by this quote.
 A lot of musicians think they can do pop.
 And the ones who don't succeed are the ones who don't have
 the reverence, who think it's just a dumb version
 of other music.
 You need to be awestruck.
 It's a simple question, but feel free to take it as deep
 as your hot sauce soaked brain wants to go.
 What do you find sacred about pop music?
 Mmm.
 I'll put the wing down for that.
 That's how seriously I take that question.
 Well, ever since I was a kid, even before I made anything,
 I had the sneaking suspicion that it was more difficult
 to speak to a lot of people than it was to speak
 to a small amount.
 There's something really special about that.
 And just like, I love, you know, writing a pop melody.
 Like, there's nothing better, you know,
 for it to be simple, but to secretly complex
 and to kind of trick the brain.
 It's probably not dissimilar to that.
 You know, you can't fake it.
 It's a real experience.
 So that's kind of what it is for me.
 Just that feeling of being able to talk to a lot of people
 and to make something that is kind of high brow,
 but also, you know, can be enjoyed
 in really simple ways.
 Drop the wing and drop the mic.
 Lord, take it on the wings of death
 and living to tell the tale.
 Toss it in the napkin.
 It was a true pleasure.
 I really enjoyed this.
 Thank you for having me.
 I enjoyed speaking to you today.
 This was such a lovely experience.
 And now, Lord, there's nothing left to do,
 but roll out the red carpet for you.
 This camera, this camera, this camera.
 Let the people know what you have going on in your life.
 Oh, this bit, okay.
 I have an album coming out.
 It's called "Solar Power."
 It's out on August 20th.
 So check it out if you want to,
 but mainly check out "Hot Ones."
 (laughing)
 (applauding)
 Thank you.
 Thank you.
 This was really fun.
 I had a great time.
 What was your second favorite?
 I do like that ginger goat.
 And I really liked that scorpion disco.
 That was nice.
 And you liked the name.
 But is it "Funkin' Hot"?
 Funkin' Hot.
 I love that you're like the high priest of this.
 I know.
 It's just kind of--
 Hot sauce universe.
 Could you ever have expected that this would be your life?
 (dramatic music)
 Hey, what's going on, everybody?
 Sean Evans here.
 Just wanted to say thank you so much
 for watching today's episode.
 And it's happened.
 The day has finally come for the U2's Hot Ones toy.
 That's right.
 The U2's Hot Ones toy is available July 29th
 at 3 p.m. Eastern time at shop.firstwefeast.com.
 That's shop.firstwefeast.com
 to get your hands on the Hot Ones U2's toy.
 Look at this.
 Got the table, got the sauces, got the milk,
 the wings on deck.
 It's handsome, if I do say so myself.
 (upbeat music)
 [Music]
 you