Motions — Grammy Awards 2014—Lorde

I seek leave to move a motion without notice congratulating Lorde on her success at the Grammy Awards.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House congratulate Ella Yelich-O’Connor, also known as Lorde, on her success at the 56th annual Grammy Awards. Yesterday young New Zealander Ella Yelich-O’Connor made history. The singer-songwriter known as Lorde won the Grammy for best pop solo performance and together with co-producer Joel Little won song of the year for “Royals”. She was nominated for an unbelievable four Grammys.

Rolling Stone has called Lorde pop’s most unlikely new superstar, and for very good reason. She has just achieved something no New Zealander has, and that it has happened so quickly and so comprehensively has taken the world by surprise. In less than a year Lorde has gone from being a year-12 student at Takapuna Grammar School to superstardom. Her unique brand of alternative pop has seen her top charts not just in New Zealand but in Britain, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, and Canada. She has appeared on the Letterman show and on Ellen, and exchanges text messages these days with Taylor Swift.

She is just 17 years old, but what is most remarkable about Ella is that she has done it all in her own way—a typically Kiwi and unassuming way. If there were rules, no one told Lorde. She has busted stereotypes and, along the way, won hearts. Her performance at yesterday’s Grammys earned her a standing ovation—think about that, a standing ovation—from the most influential names in the history of music.

New Zealand is a nation of high achievers. We almost always punch above our weight. However, the success of Ella Yelich-O’Connor is remarkable even by those standards. Yesterday this talented young woman make New Zealand sit up and take notice. I suspect there will be many such moments as her career goes forward. Ella and Joel, you have made New Zealand very proud.

Labour today congratulates young New Zealand musician Ella Yelich-O’Connor, aka Lorde, on her Grammy success yesterday. All New Zealanders are proud of Ella’s achievements, her lyrics, and what she stands for, which resonates with all young New Zealanders—young musicians striving to achieve their dreams. Ella is a role model for all New Zealanders and New Zealand musicians. Lorde has won two Grammys: one for Song of the Year for her hit “Royals” and one for Best Pop Solo Performance. Lorde was nominated amongst big names in the music business, including Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Macklemore, and others. Past winners of Song of the Year include Adele for her 2011 hit “Rolling in the Deep”.

Many musicians have praised the young New Zealander nationally and internationally for her amazing achievements, and she now joins a long list of worldwide music legends. She joins the most recent New Zealand Grammy winner Kimbra, who last year won Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Australian musician Gotye for “Somebody That I Used to Know”.

The Green Party joins with this Parliament and with the rest of the country in congratulating Ella Yelich-O’Connor and Joel Little on their amazing success at the Grammys. It was a very proud moment and there were thousands and thousands of New Zealanders amongst the 30 million other people around the world watching this young New Zealand woman and this young New Zealand man take the stage and take the world by storm in this amazing event. It is all about their passion and their creativity and their hard work, which led them there, along with the support of their families and their friends and the creative community that sits around them. How amazing it is to see this young, 17-year-old woman meet all of her talent and fulfil all of her potential, and how amazing it would be if we could be assured that every single New Zealand child had everything they needed, too, to meet all of their potential, to fulfil all their talents, and to achieve on the world stage or at home in the best way that they can. She is a fantastic example of what can be achieved by our young people if they have the support that they need.

I am also really pleased that the song itself was the one that won best song—“Royals”—because this song was all about how we do not need all of that crazy wealth or all of that crazy greed. Actually, it is enough to have friends and family and to do amazing things, to have your talent and your potential fulfilled. What a great thing that is—[Interruption] Absolutely—let us clap that. And let us clap a young woman who was able to write about that and to express that to the world in such an amazing way. We are very proud of this young woman and everyone who supports her. Thank you.

New Zealand First wishes to join other political parties in offering our congratulations to both Ella and Joel on their stunning success. I want to also say that we do not seek any vicarious benefit in this parade today. So, suffice for us to say, on behalf of New Zealand First, we are very proud of you.

He mihi tuatahi, ngā mihi o te Tau Hou ki a koe, otirā, ki a tātau. Ko tā te Pāti Māori, he tautoko i ngā kōrero ki tēnei o ngā wāhine i whakanuia inapō nei. Ā, ka nui te mihi ki a ia.

[First of all, greetings of the New Year to you, Mr Speaker, and, indeed, to us. The Māori Party endorses the statements made to this among the women who were honoured last evening and acknowledge her greatly.]

I stand on behalf of the Māori Party to support other comments that have been made about Lorde and Mr Joel Little and congratulate them on their win. Maybe there is something to be said about changing your name to get that ultimate success, and I suppose I have got to say for myself that something like “Jimbo” or “James” or something like that might be a good idea in the future. I have got to say that Beyoncé still does it for me, but Lorde is still right up there—Lorde is up there.

I understand that Dame Kiri Te Kanawa back in 1984 won the first Grammy awarded to a New Zealander, and so Lorde has joined a long queue of other people already mentioned today whom we must acknowledge as bringing pride not only to themselves and their families but also to the country. We have got to think about their parents as well, who have been mentioned, and say that obviously that talent must come from somewhere, and we acknowledge Lorde’s parents.

I understand that as a young person in 2009 at Belmont Intermediate, Lorde won with a song called “Warwick Avenue”. I do not know the song—it was a little bit after my time—but apparently that video was shown to Universal Music Group representatives and, of course, subsequently they signed her to that label. Five years later, of course with the support of her family, those around her, her school, and with her music—and I understand that she went back to her school not long ago—she has clearly demonstrated that she has the talent, and, according to most commentators, will carry on with that success.

The last word, I think, would probably need to go back to her. In her first interview, not even 1 year ago, she admitted to the success of her song-writing style as this: “You’ve got to be honest for it to lock with me. It’s got to have real things …”. We love the fact that she keeps it real and writes about real things that are important to her, and possibly touches the hearts and minds of many people. Clearly, it does. We wish her well.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Huri rauna, tēnā tātou katoa e hui tuatahi i tēnei rā roto i tō tātou Pāremata, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou. Me te mihi anōki ki a tātou katoa kua tae mai, horekau he painga e pā ana ki tētahi i tēnei rā, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou. Me mihi anōki au ki tērā o wā tātou nei kōtiro, a Lorde, i tae atu ki te taumata o tōna waiata. Ēngari, e tika ana kia kaua e wareware ki ngā wāhine rongonui o roto o Aotearoa, e noho tonu nei ki roto i a tātou, i tae atu ki tērā o ngā hui whakangau o Ngāpuhi, e tū ana ki roto i a mātou i te wikiene kua pahure ake nei. Tetahi ko Maisey Rika, ko Whirimako Black, ko Ria Hall, Billie Anne Monga me taku kōtiro anōki a Magic. E tika ana kia mihi atu ki a rātou e w’akarangatira ana i ngā kaupapa waiata o roto i a tātou i tēnei wā. Mihi atu ki a Lorde, mihi atu ki a rātou, mihi atu ki a tātou. Tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. Greetings to us all throughout, who are meeting for the first time today in our Parliament, greetings. I acknowledge us all, as well, who have nothing but goodwill for each other today, so greetings and well done. I also pay a tribute to Lorde, that one of our girls whose song has reached its pinnacle. But it is right that well-known women entertainers in New Zealand who are living here still in our midst are not overlooked. They arrived in the weekend just past at one of the festivals held amongst us in Ngāpuhi. One was Maisey Rika. Others were Whirimako Black, Ria Hall, Billie Anne Monga, and my daughter Magic as well. It is fitting that they are acknowledged for promoting the songs being sung amongst us today. In congratulating Lorde, I congratulate them too and us. Salutations and congratulations to us all.]

What an extraordinary achievement for a young New Zealander. Lorde has brought great credit to herself, her family, Takapuna Grammar School, and the country. On behalf of the people of Epsom, I join with the Prime Minister in publicly congratulating her, her family, her supporters, and her friends.

My bench mates suggested that on this occasion I should try to be very cool and hook up with the young people listening to this broadcast this afternoon. I am sure that there are tens of thousands of young people tuned in to their crystal sets and hanging off of every word we are saying about this great New Zealander.

This award represents a family who have given her unconditional love and a world-class education and taught her the value of hard work. It also represents her—obviously inherited and worked—huge talent and ability, much confidence, and a brilliant future. I was reflecting while my colleagues were speaking that, now that she is famous, if she is thinking of coming to Parliament, do not. Stay with your day job. She can bring much, much more credit to New Zealand than coming here. It is her sheer genius that has brought her to where she is, and she has much more ability to come and many more accolades to arrive. I congratulate her and her family on this great award.

I doubt that there are many people in New Zealand, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, who were watching yesterday who did not become filled with emotion at watching this extraordinary spectacle of this delightfully natural, talented, effervescent young New Zealander steal the show both with her rendition of her song at the beginning and then with her genuine, unvarnished, natural remarks at the time when she received her awards. She was a reflection of all that we would like to think is good about young New Zealanders: confident, assured, certain, but also natural, unaffected, and charming. Lorde displayed all of those talents yesterday. But yesterday is but a step along the way in what will obviously be an extremely successful career.

Her achievements to date in getting to this point should not be overlooked. Her passion, her skill as a songwriter and a performer, and the chemistry that she exudes that attracts people to watch her performances are all part of an extraordinary gift and an extraordinary talent. Lorde, her family, her supporters, her workmates, and her team around her can all take extraordinary satisfaction from her achievements to date. And we as a country can be proud of her, not just for the representation that she gives us but for the fact that she shows the world what a good young New Zealander can be like. She is a remarkable ambassadress, an extraordinary songstress and writer, and she is a person we should be very, very proud to celebrate and acknowledge long into the future.

Motion agreed to.