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Almost two hours after the lights first dimmed and Lorde took the stage for her final show of the tour, the moment we had all been waiting for finally arrived. The distinct opening notes of “Ribs” reverberated into the humid air; blue beams of light shot into the crowd.
The soundtrack of my teenage years, Lorde’s music has always been central to my high school friend group. Whether it was blasting “Supercut” in my friend Sophia’s Jeep on the highway to the beach or pausing in reverence to sing along to “400 Lux,” Lorde had captivated us in a way I couldn’t quite understand then.
Now, though college has scattered us across the country, we are closer than ever, reuniting each fall for Austin City Limits. While daily walks for coffee and getting ready in our weird Texan Airbnb is fun, Lorde being the Saturday night headliner was the cherry on top.
Photo Courtesy/Anna Kadet
The pop star’s Ultrasound Tour predicated her newest album “Virgin,” a thematically vulnerable and beautiful record. Amid the musical exploration of body image, identity and independence, the live performance itself complements these ideas. Lorde dances in a way that is raw and unglamorous, her outfit almost always simplistic. She encompasses what it is to be a woman underneath the makeup, underneath the expectations of women in our society.
It is this essence of womanhood within her work that connects us to the theme that has woven its thread across her discography: female friendship and the experience of the teenager.
As “Ribs” unfolded, the song my friends and I have held close led us into a circle among the crowd. Arms fiercely around each other, we jumped and jumped and sang and sang the lyrics:
“You’re the only friend I need / Sharing beds like little kids / And laugh until our ribs get tough / But that will never be enough.”
In our early 20s, the nostalgia of this song had hit us. We relate to the line “It feels so scary getting old” as we leave behind the years in which we were a few streets away from one another, only steps away from the old friends that feel like sisters.
Photo Courtesy/Anna Kadet
Lorde, on her 20th birthday, famously wrote, “Even when I was little, I knew that teenagers sparkled. I knew they knew something children didn’t know, and adults ended up forgetting.”
It is only in hindsight that we realize this strikes true, and yet that is the way of growing up.
However, on the precipice of adulthood, the special experience of hearing those songs together motivates me to go against that last line, “But that will never be enough.” Although we will never get being a teenager back, our friendships are now bound by that shared history and the comfort of going home when we reunite.
As someone whose parents moved away from their hometown during college, feeling without a real home is a constant. But I am lucky to have friendships that don’t just go away because my address does. In fact, they only feel stronger.
If you are lucky enough to have friends you can call sisters, let this be a gentle reminder to hold on tight.
Strike Out,
Anna Kadet
Editor: Meghan Bosman
Athens