Lorde Regrets Re-Cutting ‘Royals’ Video For American Audience

Lorde's manager has admitted that both he and the 17-year-old pop star have regrets about pandering to the American market as her track Royals notches up a ninth-straight week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Just holding off the fast-closing The Monster by Eminem and Rihanna, the track has lead the stunning global breakout for Ella Yelich-O'Connor. Speaking on a panel at the ARIA Week Masterclass today, her manager Scott Maclachlan, Director of Saiko Management, admitted “most of my job at the moment is saying no [to offers].”

The video clip to Royals was released in May and has racked up 31 million views to date, while a cut-down American version went live in June through Lorde's Vevo, attracting 95 million hits to date.

“Both Ella and I regret that we did an American version of Royals, because it tainted the original,” Maclachlan said today.

Rising in New Zealand, Lorde's team knew they wanted to go global and enter US market, meaning Asia and South America were less of a priority. Using a strategic sync deal with Samsung they partnered on an ad that featured football superstar Lionel Messi, whose profile in those regions is God-like. The campaign managed to “Trojan horse the song into those areas.”

Maclachlan added that New Zealand's remoteness has worked in her favour.

“I signed her when she was 12 and it took almost four years to get it right. If I was working at a UK or US record company I'm not sure we could have done that.”

 Watch the original video:

The American re-cut:

The Samsung ad: