New Zealand singer Lorde's music video for her debut single, "Royals," which she released in June 2013, when she was just 16, has reached 1 billion views on YouTube.
The video, directed by Joel Kefali, portrays two suburban teenagers in their daily life, interspersed with shots of Lorde singing to the camera.
"Royals" is the lead single from Lorde's debut studio album Pure Heroine. The track led the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks, making Lorde the youngest chart-topper since 1987, when "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany hit No. 1.
The song received Grammy nominations for record of the year, song of the year and best pop solo performance, and won in the latter two categories.
When sharing the video in 2013, Lorde told Teen Vogue that she wanted to portray the mundanity of teenage life she was experiencing.
"You feel like it's the waiting period of your life," she explained. "We can't get into bars, we can't drive or anything and it can be frustrating sometimes. I wanted to portray that instead of just, like, 'yay!'"
The "Royals" visual won Best Rock Video at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, making Lorde the first female solo artist to win in that category.
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