CULTURE

Lorde Tells Seth Meyers About Getting Trapped on New York City Subway

A melodramatic experience.


Lorde
Joseph Okpako/Redferns/Getty Images

New Zealand native and fan of putting on makeup in other people’s cars Lorde included the New York City subway in the “thank you” section of the liner notes on her new album, Melodrama, and last night she explained to late-night TV host Seth Meyers exactly why. “I understand if you’ve lived here [in NYC] for a long time and you’ve caught the subway five thousand times, you would hate it,” she said, but for her, “it still has a bit of romance.”

But what’s romance without a little drama (or, in Lorde’s case, melodrama)? “I did get stuck on the F [train] for four hours once,” Lorde revealed—although other accounts of this summer’s F-train incident put the wait time closer to 45 minutes. Still, any amount of time trapped underground can drive a person just a little bonkers.

Lorde said that as she sat on the ground waiting for the train to move, she didn’t see anyone notice her, but she was primarily focused on the oatmeal in her backpack. “I thought, if anyone finds out, this is gonna be like a prized commodity,” she recalled, adding, “It’s gonna be like Lost. They’re gonna be my family. We’re gonna be here forever.”

Thankfully, Lorde’s ride never descended into post-apocalyptic wasteland chaos, although it would have been fun to read a couple “Lorde of the Flies” headlines.

But it turns out, the semi-harrowing journey is not why the Metropolitan Transportation Authority got a shout-out for the record. “I love the subway. It was really nice, writing this record, I would sit there and listen to the work, and it helped me kind of be around people, you know, because when you’re working in a studio, you’re very isolated and hang out with kind of just a couple people,” said Lorde, “I feel like [the subway] reintroduced me back into society.”

However, please do not mistake Lorde’s romanticized take on the increasingly troubled subway system for that of New Yorkers in general. Those feelings are best directed at Gov. Andrew Cuomo and are similar in sentiment to when Lorde found out her ex told his new girlfriend that he loves the beach: “You’re such a damn liar.”

Related: After Melodrama, Lorde Confronts Some Internet Drama, Compares Celebrity Friendships to Autoimmune Diseases

See What’s Trending in W Video: