"Royals" by Lorde 

I've never seen a diamond in the flesh

I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies

And I'm not proud of my address,

In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom

Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,

We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.

But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.

Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.

We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).

It don't run in our blood,

That kind of luxe just ain't for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz.

Let me be your ruler (ruler),

You can call me queen Bee

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.

Let me live that fantasy.

My friends and I—we've cracked the code.

We count our dollars on the train to the party.

And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,

We didn't come from money.

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom.

Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,

We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.

But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.

Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash

We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair

And we'll never be royals (royals).

It don't run in our blood

That kind of luxe just ain't for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz.

Let me be your ruler (ruler),

You can call me queen Bee

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.

Let me live that fantasy.

Ooh ooh oh

We're bigger than we ever dreamed,

And I'm in love with being queen.

Ooh ooh oh

Life is great without a care

We aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).

It don't run in our blood

That kind of luxe just ain't for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz

Let me be your ruler (ruler),

You can call me queen Bee

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.

Let me live that fantasy.

The song I chose is “Royals” by Lorde. It does not follow a rhyme scheme, therefore it could be considered free verse. The song is made up of two refrains, two verses and a bridge. The first refrain is 6 lines whereas the second refrain is 8 lines. The verses are four lines each and the bridge is 6 lines. There is also several literary terms within this song such as irony, allusion, personification, and alliteration. 

The speaker of this song could be the singer and her friends, but it could also be fictional and not  based on anyone in particular. There is no direct indication as to who is the song’s speaker. The tone of this song is indifferent because the speaker is comfortable with the lifestyle they have and is not concerned with what others are doing within the music industry. The speaker is comfortable with doing their own thing whereas others within the music industry are consumed by living up to a certain luxurious standard.  As it is demonstrated within these lyrics: “That kind of luxe just ain't for us” and “But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece. Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash”.There are several examples of poetic language within this song such as irony, allusion, personification, and alliteration. There is an allusion to brand names within the lyrics such a Grey Goose vodka, and Maybach luxury automobiles. Personification is given to diamonds when the speaker says “never seen diamond in the flesh”. They are giving the human quality of flesh to a diamond even though a diamond does not have flesh. Alliteration is used within the song by saying things such as “ torn up town” and bloodstains, ball gowns”. Irony is used when the speaker says, “We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams”. The irony within this is that the speaker and their friends do not need or care about luxurious items but yet they are dreaming about Cadillacs. 

This song is controversial because the artist, Lorde is implying that the hip hop and rap world are obsessed with money and materialistic items. The music industry tends to glorify a luxurious life style. The artist is also hinting that these genres of music are all the same by implying the lyrics “But every song's like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin' in the bathroom, blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room” within the song. What this song says to me is that the speaker and their friends are not obsessed with the expensive things in life and that they would much rather “count our dollars on the train to the party” than be caught up in all the luxury. The speaker is not proud of where they come from and there is nothing envious about where they live whereas most people within the music industry are obsessed with everyone knowing how high of a title they are. I think the singer is comparing her life towards others within the music industry. I like this song because it is not similar to most songs that are on the radio today. It is somewhat mocking todays music but you do not realize it is until you take a closer look at the lyrics.