POP CULTURE

The Shush Heard Around The World

Shushgate, if you will.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet over the last few weeks, you may have seen a viral TikTok of the singer Lorde “sushing” concertgoers. The incident occurred while the singer was performing her song “Writer In The Dark” at a concert in 2017. If you occupy the same viral niche as I do, you‘ve likely seen dozens of videos on the scandal — compilations, recreations, reactions, and more.

A popular TikTok of the moment, posted by @real_lady_hands, boasts an impressive 14.5 million views. Commenters criticize the singer’s antics, with comments saying “…it sounded better with the audience singing” and “this video makes me noticeably nauseous,” garnering hundreds of thousands of likes.

The Lorde hate train was swift, with many calling out her behavior as cringy, uncomfortable, and overall “doing too much.” Some came to her defense, calling the move “iconic” and saying they paid to hear Lorde sing, not the crowd. Overall, this seems to be a divisive topic.

At a recent concert in Chicago, Lorde addressed the controversy, explaining her reasons for the shush and performing the song for the first time in years.

There are moments for silence, and there are moments for sound. There are moments that belong to just one person and there are moments that are all of ours. And that’s just life.

She described being young — 19 and very dramatic — and wanting to perform the song acapella. The moment makes her feel “misunderstood,” but she realizes that feeling misunderstood at that moment is unimportant compared to the joy she gets performing her current shows. She then performs the now infamous song, letting the crowd sing to their hearts’ content.

The song is my way of saying ‘It’s what I’ve always been. It’s what I was when you met me. It’s what I will continue to be after you leave. That’s exactly what was going to happen when you kissed a writer in the dark.’

Personally, for a dramatic song off an album called Melodrama, I find Lorde’s behavior very fitting. Take, for example, this lyric, which exemplifies the theatrical themes of the song:

I am my mother’s child, I’ll love you ’til my breathing stops I’ll love you ’til you call the cops on me

The song is clearly emotional for her to perform, about an ex that she still loves but knows she must move on from:

But in our darkest hours, I stumbled on a secret power I’ll find a way to be without you, babe

Additionally, shushing crowds is not a new concept. Many artists, including Harry Styles, the Black Crowes, and more, have been known to shush crowds, especially during acoustic or acapella renditions of their songs.

So no, I don’t fault Lorde for shushing the crowd. She’s an artist, she had a vision for how the song was supposed to be performed, and she was trying to bring that vision to life. I also don’t think she’ll be shushing more crowds anytime soon. As she says in “Hold No Grudge,” a bonus track off her latest album Solar Power,

Don’t you think that we both might’ve done some growing up?

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