Glory and Gore

"Glory and Gore" is a song by New Zealand singer Lorde from her debut studio album, Pure Heroine (2013). The song was released on 11 March 2014 as the album's fourth single by Lava Records and Republic Records. The track was written by Lorde and its producer, Joel Little. "Glory and Gore" is an electropop song influenced by chillwave and hip hop music. It speaks about modern society's fascination with violence and celebrity culture.

"Glory and Gore"
Single by Lorde
from the album Pure Heroine
Released11 March 2014 (2014-03-11)
RecordedGolden Age Studios
GenreElectropop
Length3:32
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Joel Little
Lorde singles chronology
"Team"
(2013)		 "Glory and Gore"
(2014)		 "Yellow Flicker Beat"
(2014)

The song was met with a mixed reception from critics, and reached numbers sixty-eight and nine on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Rock Songs, respectively. In 2014, "Glory and Gore" was used in an advertisement for the second season of the History television series Vikings.

Composition and release

As with the rest of Pure Heroine, "Glory and Gore" was written by Lorde and Joel Little, recorded at Golden Age Studios and produced, mixed and engineered by Little.[1] "Glory and Gore" is a chillwave and hip hop-influenced electropop ballad,[2][3] instrumented by pulsing synthesisers.[4]

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, it is set in a moderate tempo of 72 beats per minute. It is written in the key of F minor, and follows the chord progression A♭–Fm–Cm–B♭m. Lorde's vocals range from E♭3 to E♭5.[5] Throughout the song, she uses black satire to express disdain towards modern emphasis on violence,[6] and compares celebrity culture to gladiatorial combat.[7] This is exemplified in the lyric "Glory and gore go hand-in-hand/That's why we're making headlines."[6] It continues the derision of popular culture of "Team", the preceding song on Pure Heroine.[8] "Glory and Gore" also portrays an empowerment theme; PopMatters' Evan Sawdey described it as a "dark" version of Katy Perry's "Roar" (2013).[9]

"Glory and Gore" was sent to United States modern rock radio by Lava Records and Republic Records on 11 March 2014 as the third US single from Pure Heroine, following "Royals" and "Team".[10] A US adult album alternative (AAA) release followed on 7 April 2014.[11] "Glory and Gore" serves as the fourth single overall from Pure Heroine, as "Tennis Court" was released outside the US in 2013.[12] Originally, "Tennis Court" was going to be the third US single,[13][14] but the record labels changed to "Glory and Gore" instead after it was featured in History's promotional campaign for the second season of its historical television series, Vikings.[15][16] However, the 8 April 2014 US contemporary hit radio (CHR) scheduled release of "Glory and Gore" was cancelled,[16][17] and "Tennis Court" eventually impacted US CHR on 22 April 2014.[18]

Reception

In a review of Pure Heroine, Larry Day from The 405 called the track "single-worthy".[19] Billboard's Jason Lipshutz called Lorde's vocals during the song's hook "contagious".[6] Jon Hadusek of Consequence of Sound wrote that "Glory and Gore" did not fit in with the minimal production found in the majority of Pure Heroine.[20] Pitchfork's Lindsay Zoladz criticised the song for having too many lyrics forced into each line.[21] John Murphy from musicOMH was critical of the latter half of Pure Heroine, writing "by the time 'Glory and Gore' and 'Still Sane' roll around, the template's starting to sound a bit tired."[22]

Following the release of Pure Heroine, "Glory and Gore" appeared at number 17 on the New Zealand Artists Singles Chart dated 7 October 2013.[23] Prior to its single release, the song entered the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 88 on the week of 8 March 2014,[24] with sales of about 32,000 copies that week—almost double the sales of the previous week.[25] The following week "Glory and Gore" sold 47,000 copies (up 46%) and became the Hot 100's "Digital Gainer" as it moved up to number 68 on the chart.[26] The song peaked at number 30 on the US Digital Songs chart,[27] number seventeen on the US Alternative Songs,[28] and number nine on the main Hot Rock Songs.[29] As of April 2014, "Glory and Gore" has sold 307,000 digital downloads in the US.[16]

Live performances
Lorde performing at Lollapalooza in 2014

On 24 September 2013, Lorde performed the track, among others, at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California.[30] On 3 October 2013, Lorde held a concert at the Warsaw Venue in Brooklyn and performed the song among other tracks from the album.[31] Lorde performed "Glory and Gore" at Silo Park, Auckland on 29 January 2014 as part of her make-up show for the 2014 Laneway Festival, with The New Zealand Herald's Chris Schulz calling the performance a "highlight".[32] In 2014, Lorde opened her show at Roseland Ballroom and her Coachella Festival set with the song,[33] and performed it at Lollapalooza in São Paulo, Brazil and in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[34]

Charts

Release history
Region Date Format Label(s) Ref.
United States 11 March 2014 Modern rock
[10]
7 April 2014 Adult album alternative [11]
gollark: Also, I control all the networking hardware.
gollark: I have a 4G connection as a backup.
gollark: If that somehow implodes, I can *technically* open a browser on an old Kindle we have for some reason.
gollark: Nathaniel will let me borrow his old obsoleted phone too, so I could use that instead.
gollark: If he then takes that, I can use the spare tablet lying around somewhere.

References
  1. Pure Heroine (CD liner). Lorde. New Zealand: Universal Music New Zealand. 2013. 3751900.CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. Wass, Mike (30 September 2013). "Lorde's 'Pure Heroine': Album Review". Idolator (Spin Media). Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  3. Wright, Lisa (1 November 2013). "Lorde – 'Pure Heroine'". The Fly. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013.
  4. Farrier, David (27 September 2013). "Lorde – Pure Heroine track-by-track review". 3 News. MediaWorks New Zealand. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  5. "Glory and Gore". EMI Music Publishing. Musicnotes.com. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  6. Lipshutz, Jason (25 September 2013). "Lorde, 'Pure Heroine': Track-By-Track Review". Billboard. New York. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
    Patrick, Ryan B. (30 September 2013). "Lorde – Pure Heroine". Exclaim!. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  7. Zadeh, Joe (11 October 2013). "Lorde – Pure Heroine". Clash. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  8. Daisy, Hannah (24 October 2013). "Album Review: Lorde – Pure Heroine". Planet Notion. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  9. Sawdey, Evan (10 October 2013). "Lorde: Pure Heroine". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  10. "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014.
  11. "Future Releases on Triple A (AAA) Radio Stations". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014.
  12. "Tennis Court – Single by Lorde". New Zealand: iTunes Store (Apple). Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  13. "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014.
  14. Caulfield, Keith (28 February 2014). "Lorde's 'Pure Heroine' Hits 1 Million in Sales". Billboard. Los Angeles. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  15. Ng, Philiana (9 December 2013). "History's 'Vikings' Season 2 Promo Gets Help From Lorde (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  16. Trust, Gary (28 April 2014). "Chart Highlights: Lorde's 'Tennis Court' Nets Adult Pop Songs Debut". Billboard. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  17. "Top 40/M Future Releases". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014.
  18. "Lorde 'Tennis Court'". Republic Records. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014.
  19. Day, Larry (25 October 2013). "Lorde – Pure Heroine". Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  20. Hadusek, Jon (30 September 2013). "Album Review: Lorde – Pure Heroine". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  21. Zoladz, Lindsay (3 October 2013). "Lorde: Pure Heroine". Pitchfork. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  22. Murphy, John (24 October 2013). "Lorde – Pure Heroine". musicOMH. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
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  24. "The Hot 100". Billboard. 8 March 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014.
  25. Trust, Gary (28 February 2014). "Chart Moves: Keith Urban Drives 'Cop Car' Up Hot Country Songs; Cage The Elephant Scores First Triple A No. 1; Christopher Cross Ends Top 10 Drought". Billboard. New York. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  26. Trust, Gary (5 March 2014). "Pharrell's 'Happy' Holds at No. 1 On Hot 100". Billboard. New York. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  27. "Lorde – Chart history: Digital Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  28. "Lorde – Chart history: Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  29. "Lorde – Chart history: Hot Rock Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  30. Wass, Mike (25 September 2013). "Lorde Reigns Supreme At The Fonda Theater In Los Angeles: Live Review". Idolator. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  31. Kamer, Foster (4 October 2013). "Live Review: Lorde Brings Brooklyn More Than a Chart-Topper". Complex. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  32. Schulz, Chris (30 January 2014). "Concert review: Lorde, Silo Park, Auckland". The New Zealand Herald. APN News & Media. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  33. Nicholson, Rebecca (13 March 2014). "Lorde in New York review - 'This is pop after the xx, full of space and effect'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
    Yates, Siena (14 April 2014). "Lorde reaches new highes at Coachella". Stuff.co.nz (Fairfax New Zealand). Archived from the original on 12 July 2014.
    Dimeglio, Mary J (13 April 2014). "Jay Z Joins Nas, And More Ways Coachella Day 2 Was Full Of Surprises". MTV News. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  34. Mazumdar, Tarun (7 April 2014). "Lorde Conquers the Brazilian Stage, Rocks 40,000 fan at Lollapalooza in Sao Paulo". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  35. "Chartifacts". ARIA Charts. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014.
  36. "Hot Canadian Digital Songs: Mar 15, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  37. "Canada Rock: May 10, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  38. "Hot Rock Songs: Page 1". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  39. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2018 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
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