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141-504: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( / l ɔːr d / LORD ), is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. She is known for her unconventional style of pop music and introspective songwriting. Lorde gained attention performing at a talent show in her early teens. She signed with Universal Music Group (UMG) in 2009 and collaborated with producer Joel Little in 2011. Their first effort, an extended play (EP) titled The Love Club EP ,

282-511: A Sony -led consortium for $ 2.2 billion. Among the other companies that had competed for the recorded music business was Warner Music Group which was reported to have made a $ 2 billion bid. IMPALA opposed the merger. In March 2012, the European Union opened an investigation into the acquisition The EU asked rivals and consumer groups whether the deal would result in higher prices and shut out competitors. On September 21, 2012,

423-408: A feminist . The New Zealand Herald opined that her feminist ideology was different from her contemporaries due to Lorde's disinterest in sexualised performances. She proclaimed herself in an interview with V magazine as a "hugely sex-positive person", saying, "I have nothing against anyone getting naked. ... I just don't think it really would complement my music in any way or help me tell

564-577: A "strong piece of music", but worried if the EP could profit because Lorde was obscure at the time. In November 2012, the singer self-released the EP through her SoundCloud account for free download. UMG commercially released The Love Club in March 2013 after it had been downloaded 60,000 times, which signalled that Lorde had attracted a range of audiences. It peaked at number two in New Zealand and Australia. " Royals ",

705-542: A coercively persuaded population divided into five castes. Karin Boye 's 1940 novel Kallocain is set in a totalitarian world state where a drug is used to control the individual's thoughts. Anthony Burgess ' 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange is set in a future England that has a subculture of extreme youth violence, and details the protagonist's experiences with the state intent on changing his character at their whim. Margaret Atwood 's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) describes

846-691: A duet called "Ella & Louis" and performed covers live on a regular basis at local venues, including cafés in Auckland and the Victoria Theatre in Devonport. In 2011, UMG hired vocal coach Frances Dickinson to give her singing lessons twice a week for a year. During this time, Maclachlan attempted to partner Lorde with several different producers and songwriters, but without success. As she began writing songs, she learned how to "put words together" by reading short fiction . Lorde performed her original songs for

987-468: A former wife of Tom Petty that seeks class action status for artists whose master recordings were believed to have been destroyed in the Universal Studios fire. On December 9, 2011, Megaupload published a music video titled: "The Mega Song", showing artists including Kanye West , Snoop Dogg , Alicia Keys and will.i.am endorsing the company. The music video was also uploaded to YouTube, but

1128-450: A frequent band member for Bowie, explained that Bowie's family and management selected Lorde because he admired her and felt she was "the future of music". Her cover was widely acknowledged as one of the finest performances in tribute to Bowie. Later that year, Lorde co-wrote " Heartlines ", a song by New Zealand music duo Broods from their 2016 album Conscious . The lead single from her second studio album Melodrama , " Green Light ",

1269-585: A future United States governed by a totalitarian theocracy , where women have no rights, and Stephen King 's The Long Walk (1979) describes a similar totalitarian scenario, but depicting the participation of teenage boys in a deadly contest. Examples of young-adult dystopian fiction include (notably all published after 2000) The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins , the Divergent series by Veronica Roth , The Power of Five series by Anthony Horowitz , The Maze Runner series by James Dashner , and

1410-738: A global partnership agreement with UMG across recorded music, music publishing, brand management, and licensing rights. On November 19, 2018, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift signed a new multi-album deal with UMG, in the United States, her future releases will be promoted under the Republic Records imprint. In addition to the promised ownership of her master recordings, UMG agreed to, in case it sells portions of its stake in Spotify , distribute proceeds among its artists and make them non-recoupable. In December 2018, Queen's " Bohemian Rhapsody " became

1551-508: A global, multi-year agreement with Facebook becoming the first of The " Big Three " to license its recorded music and publishing catalogs for video and other social experiences across Facebook , Instagram and Oculus . Sony and Warner signed similar contracts with Facebook the following year. Furthermore, on December 19, 2017, UMG signed a multi-year licensing agreement with YouTube . In June 2018, Universal Music Japan announced an exclusive license agreement with Disney Music Group . With

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1692-448: A government that is overprotective of nature or a society that has lost most modern technology and struggles for survival. A fine example of this is the novel Riddley Walker . Another subgenre is feminist utopias and the overlapping category of feminist science fiction . According to the author Sally Miller Gearhart , "A feminist utopian novel is one which a. contrasts the present with an envisioned idealized society (separated from

1833-577: A group of followers, the Icarians , to leave France in 1848, and travel to the United States to start a series of utopian settlements in Texas, Illinois, Iowa, California, and elsewhere. These groups lived in communal settings and lasted until 1898. Among the first decades of the 20th century in Russia, utopian science fiction literature popularity rose extremely due to the fact that the citizens wanted to fantasize about

1974-468: A label she dismissed, saying that "young people have never needed a specialised spokesperson". Jon Caramanica , writing for The New York Times , credited Lorde for bringing forth a "wave of female rebellion" to mainstream audiences that embraced an "anti-pop" sentiment. Sharing a similar viewpoint, Rolling Stone and NPR credited her debut studio album Pure Heroine as the foundation of that transformation. Several analysts also noted Lorde's influence on

2115-414: A modern utopian society built on equality. Other examples include Samuel Johnson 's The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759) and Samuel Butler 's Erewhon (1872), which uses an anagram of "nowhere" as its title. This, like much of utopian literature, can be seen as satire ; Butler inverts illness and crime, with punishment for the former and treatment for the latter. One example of

2256-461: A new in-car audio collaboration with Apple Music and Universal Music Group. With this new audio standard, UMG allows its artists to base their song approval process on how the final mix sounds in a Mercedes‑Benz and introduced the "Approved in a Mercedes‑Benz" label as a standard. In November 2022, Universal Music Group acquired a 49% stake in Play It Again Sam (PIAS Group), which brings together

2397-452: A new multi-year licensing agreement with Spotify In June 2021, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings , a special-purpose acquisition company run by investor Bill Ackman, announced it would acquire 10 percent of UMG before it went public, in a $ 4 billion transaction. The deal collapsed in July 2021 due to regulatory concerns, and it was announced that Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings would complete

2538-806: A new multi-year licensing agreement with Spotify , the world's leading streaming service, and in May 2017, UMG signed a deal with Tencent , China's biggest gaming and social media firm. In July 2017, " Despacito " by Luis Fonsi , Daddy Yankee and featuring Justin Bieber , became the most streamed track of all time. By 2018, the song had broken several Guinness World Records , including Most Weeks at Number 1 on Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart and most-viewed video online. In August 2017, UMG and Grace/Beyond agreed to develop three new music-based television series, 27 , Melody Island and Mixtape . 27 would focus on musicians at

2679-547: A nomination for a Golden Globe Award . She appeared in Time ' s list of the most influential teenagers in 2013 and 2014, and the 2014 edition of Forbes 30 Under 30 . In addition to her solo work, she has co-written songs for other artists, including Broods and Bleachers . As of June 2017, Lorde had sold over five million albums worldwide. Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor was born on 7 November 1996 in Takapuna , New Zealand,

2820-589: A patron of MusicHelps, formerly the New Zealand Music Foundation, a musical charity helping New Zealanders who are vulnerable to or experiencing serious health issues, in November 2018. After her breakthrough, Lorde won four New Zealand Music Awards at the 2013 ceremony . The single "Royals" earned the APRA Silver Scroll Award , and two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of

2961-404: A poet, as the primary influence for her songwriting. She also named several authors, including Kurt Vonnegut , Raymond Carver , Wells Tower , Tobias Wolff , Claire Vaye Watkins , Sylvia Plath , Walt Whitman , and T. S. Eliot as lyrical inspirations, particularly noting their sentence structures . When writing her second album, Melodrama , Lorde took inspiration from the melodic styles of

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3102-605: A really interesting way, whether it might be chopping up a vocal part or really lash or layering a vocal." She also stated that she was inspired by the initially hidden identities of Burial and the Weeknd , explaining, "I feel like mystery is more interesting." Other inspirations include Katy Perry , Grace Jones , James Blake , Yeasayer , Animal Collective , Bon Iver , the Smiths , Arcade Fire , Laurie Anderson , Kanye West , Prince , and David Bowie. Lyrically, Lorde cited her mother,

3243-889: A remix version of the song " Girl, So Confusing ". In September 2024, Universal Music Publishing executive VP and co-head of U.S. A&R Jennifer Knoepfle, stated that they had "signed Lorde earlier this year" and that the "Girl, So Confusing" remix was her first release as a UMPG song writer. This means that Lorde is now a UMG artist for both recording and music publishing. Lorde grew up listening to American jazz and soul musicians Billie Holiday , Sam Cooke , Etta James , and Otis Redding , whose music she admires for "harvesting their suffering". She also listened to her parents' favourite records by musicians including Cat Stevens , Neil Young , and Fleetwood Mac in her early years. During production of Pure Heroine , Lorde cited influences from electronic music producers, including SBTRKT , Grimes , and Sleigh Bells , impressed by "their vocals in

3384-419: A result of the fire. Representatives for R.E.M. announced they would investigate the effects the fire may have had on the band's archival materials, while Hole , Steely Dan , Rosanne Cash and Geoff Downes made statements on their possible losses from the fire. A representative for Eminem confirmed that the rapper's master recordings were digitized months before the fire, but could not confirm whether

3525-597: A series of independent labels. In January 2023, Sherry Lansing was named the Chairman of Board of Directors of the Universal Music Group. In August 2023, it was announced UMG had acquired the UAE -based music marketing, digital publishing and distribution agency, Chabaka. In 2023, Universal Music Group and Deezer announced their initiative to explore potential new business models for music streaming that better recognize

3666-471: A similar settlement was entered into with music publishers and distributors Sony Music , Warner Music , Bertelsmann Music Group , EMI Music and Universal Music Group and certain retailers, without admission of liability or wrongdoing, with various states. In settlement of the claim, the companies collectively agreed to pay a $ 67.4 million fine and distribute $ 75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups. It

3807-483: A small number of works depicting what might be called eco-utopia, or eco-utopian trends, have also been influential. These include Ernest Callenbach 's Ecotopia , an important 20th century example of this genre. Kim Stanley Robinson has written several books dealing with environmental themes, including the Mars trilogy . Most notably, however, his Three Californias Trilogy contrasted an eco-dystopia with an eco-utopia and

3948-430: A sort of middling-future. Robinson has also edited an anthology of short ecotopian fiction, called Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias . Another impactful piece of Robinson's is New York 2140 which focuses on the aftermath of society after a major flooding event, and can be seen through both a utopian and dystopian lens. There are a few dystopias that have an "anti-ecological" theme. These are often characterized by

4089-600: A specific idea she had tried to identify. For "Tennis Court", Lorde wrote the music before lyrics. She stated that the songwriting on Pure Heroine developed from the perspective of an observer. Similarly, in an interview with NME , Lorde acknowledged that she used words of inclusion throughout her debut album, while her follow-up Melodrama presented a shift to first-person narrative , employing more introspective lyrics inspired by Lorde's personal struggles post-breakup and viewpoints on post-teenage maturity. Lorde's neurological condition chromesthesia influenced her songwriting on

4230-416: A story any better". Critical reception of Lorde is generally positive, with praise concentrated on her maturity both musically and lyrically. The New York Times called her "the pop prodigy" who was not conformed to boundaries and always sought experimentation. Billboard recognised Lorde as a spokesperson for a "female rock resurgence" by introducing her works to rock and alternative radio, which had seen

4371-424: A suburb of Auckland , to poet Sonja Yelich ( Croatian : Jelić ) and civil engineer Vic O'Connor. Her mother was born to Croatian immigrants from the region of Dalmatia , while her father is of Irish descent. They announced their engagement in 2014, after a 30-year relationship, and they married in a 2017 private ceremony on Cheltenham Beach . Lorde holds dual New Zealand and Croatian citizenship . Lorde

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4512-403: A traditional male dominance. The publication also named her the " New Queen of Alternative " in a 2013 cover story. Journalist Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic towards Lorde's styles, labelling the singer as "a pop property" that was indistinguishable from other mainstream artists. Lorde's critiques of mainstream culture on Pure Heroine earned her the title "the voice of her generation",

4653-523: A utopia; the others have significant dystopian aspects. In ecotopian fiction , the author posits either a utopian or dystopian world revolving around environmental conservation or destruction. Danny Bloom coined the term "cli-fi" in 2006, with a Twitter boost from Margaret Atwood in 2011, to cover climate change-related fiction , but the theme has existed for decades. Novels dealing with overpopulation , such as Harry Harrison 's Make Room! Make Room! (made into movie Soylent Green ), were popular in

4794-504: A valuation of €46 billion. As of April 2024, UMG's catalogue includes over 3 million recordings and 4 million compositions. As of November 2024, UMG is facing accusations of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ; and using deceptive business practices and false advertising under New York state law, to illegally inflate music streams using bots, payola and other methods. The company's origins go back to

4935-584: A variety of musicians, including the 1975 –especially their song " Somebody Else ", Phil Collins , Don Henley , Rihanna , Florence and the Machine , Tom Petty , Joni Mitchell , Leonard Cohen , and Robyn . During the recording process, she stated that Frank Ocean 's 2016 album Blonde inspired her to eschew "traditional song structures." She frequently listened to Paul Simon 's 1986 album Graceland while riding subways in New York City and on taxi rides on

5076-512: A worldwide basis. The exclusive deal also saw UMG granted unlimited access to all rights pertaining to Disney's 85-year back catalog of soundtracks and albums. On April 2, 2013, the gospel music divisions of Motown Records and EMI merged to form a new label called Motown Gospel. In May 2013, Japanese company SoftBank offered $ 8.5 billion to Vivendi for the acquisition of UMG, but Vivendi rejected it. In July 2018, JPMorgan said that UMG could be worth as much as $ 40 billion and then increased

5217-546: Is "more freeform and spontaneous" than structured choreography and "speaks an entirely different expressive language". The publication further elaborated that her "stage presence [is] more impactful than the average pop performance". Lorde was parodied in the South Park episodes " The Cissy " and " Rehash ", broadcast in October and December 2014, respectively. Lorde has been involved in several philanthropic causes. " The Love Club "

5358-771: Is also headquartered in Hollywood. Universal Music Group operates a secondary office in Woodland Hills that includes finance, royalty, and operations functions. Universal Music Latin Entertainment is headquartered in Miami, Florida . Universal Music Group Nashville is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee . UMG has offices in New York City where Island Records , Def Jam Recordings , Republic Records , Verve Label Group , and Spinefarm Records are headquartered. Universal Music Spain

5499-624: Is based in Madrid , Spain. Universal Music Group Global (formerly known as Universal Music Group International (UMGI) ) operates offices in London. Universal Music GmbH, the German subsidiary, is headquartered in Berlin . It moved in 2002 from Hamburg to the district Friedrichshain at the river Spree . In February 2024 the company moved out of the iconic building also called "Eierspeicher" into another office down

5640-584: Is expected to be of $ 3.36 billion. In February 2020, Vivendi announced it was planning to go public in an IPO within three years. On June 16, 2020, Universal rebranded Virgin EMI Records as EMI Records and named Rebecca Allen (former president of UMG's Decca label) as the label's president, bringing back the EMI brand. The same day, UMG announced launch of its new affiliates in Morocco and Israel. In July 2020, UMG signed

5781-518: Is not chosen until maturity, and gender has no bearing on social roles. In contrast, Doris Lessing 's The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1980) suggests that men's and women's values are inherent to the sexes and cannot be changed, making a compromise between them essential. In My Own Utopia (1961) by Elisabeth Mann Borgese , gender exists but is dependent upon age rather than sex — genderless children mature into women, some of whom eventually become men. Marge Piercy 's novel Woman on

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5922-628: Is over a third bigger than initial valuation. In January 2022, UMG (through INgrooves ) acquired the Icelandic record label Alda Music, which owned the rights to nearly 80 percent of all music released in Iceland. In February 2022, Universal Music Group announced a partnership with Curio, an NFT platform, to create NFT collections for its record labels and artists. On May 31, 2022, Universal Music Group announced Baa1/BBB long-term credit ratings from Moody's and S&P. In October 2022, Mercedes-Benz launched

6063-403: Is the second of four children: she has an elder sister Jerry, a younger sister India, and a younger brother Angelo. They were raised in Auckland's North Shore suburbs of Devonport and Bayswater . At age five, she joined a drama group and developed public speaking skills. Her mother encouraged her to read a range of genres, which Lorde cited as a lyrical influence. More specifically, she cites

6204-528: Is to remove men, either showing isolated all-female societies as in Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's Herland , or societies where men have died out or been replaced, as in Joanna Russ 's A Few Things I Know About Whileaway , where "the poisonous binary gender" has died off. In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with

6345-610: The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld . Video games often include dystopias as well; notable examples include the Fallout series, BioShock , and the later games of the Half-Life series. The history of dystopian literature can be traced back to the reaction to the French Revolution of 1789 and the prospect that mob rule would produce dictatorship . Until the late 20th century, it

6486-642: The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. While Lorde did not explicitly indicate her reasons for the cancellation, she admitted that she had been unaware of the political turmoil there and "the right decision at this time is to cancel". Pro-Palestine groups welcomed her decision, while pro-Israel groups were critical of the cancellation. Billboard included Lorde on their 2017 edition of 21 Under 21, while Forbes included her in their 30 Under 30 Asia list. Lorde revealed on 20 May 2020 that she started working on her third studio album with Jack Antonoff following

6627-673: The music trends of the 2010s , and have credited the singer with paving the way for the current generation of alternative-leaning pop artists. She placed at number 12 on NPR's 2018 readers poll of the most influential female musicians of the 21st century. Her work has influenced various artists, including Billie Eilish , Olivia Rodrigo , Sabrina Carpenter , Conan Gray , and Troye Sivan . Her onstage persona, particularly her signature unchoreographed dancing, has polarised audiences. Her detractors have described her dance moves as "awkward" in comparison to other stage performers. The Fader expressed that she should be celebrated for her dancing as it

6768-463: The young adult dystopian novel Feed (2002) by M. T. Anderson as well as authors J. D. Salinger , Raymond Carver and Janet Frame for influencing her songwriting. After a suggestion from a school instructor, her mother had her take the Woodcock–Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities to determine her intelligence. The results concluded that Lorde, age six, was a gifted child. She

6909-495: The " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time " and Pitchfork 's list of the "Greatest Albums of the 2010s". Lorde ventured into indie folk and psychedelic styles for her third studio album, Solar Power (2021). The album reached number one in Australia and New Zealand and the top-10 in numerous other countries, although it polarised music critics and fans alike. Lorde's accolades include two Grammy Awards , two Brit Awards , and

7050-487: The "Annenberg Inclusion Initiative", becoming the first music company to do so. The initiative is meant to create change for representation of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the media industry. In December 2017, Universal Music Group acquired Stiff and ZTT labels, along with Perfect Songs Publishing, from Trevor Horn 's SPZ Group; BMG Rights Management , through Union Square Music subsidiary, retained its back catalogues. That same month, UMG signed

7191-403: The "Unwanteds" series by Lisa McMann, a paradox occurs where the outcasts from a complete dystopia are treated to absolute utopia. They believe that those who were privileged in said dystopia were the unlucky ones. In another literary model, the imagined society journeys between elements of utopia and dystopia over the course of the novel or film. At the beginning of The Giver by Lois Lowry ,

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7332-654: The 'ethical use' of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also in October 2023, UMG formed a new partnership with BMG Rights Management to develop collaborative initiatives to enlarge opportunities for BMG-signed artists all over the world. Unable to reach a licensing agreement with TikTok, UMG removed its music from the platform in January 2024, During UMG's fourth-quarter earnings call on February 29, Grainge said: "There must not be free rides for massive global platforms such as TikTok." The company reported that quarterly revenue rose 9 percent, to 3.2 billion euros ($ 3.5 billion). Following

7473-470: The 1970s, reflecting the widespread concern with the effects of overpopulation on the environment. The novel Nature's End by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka (1986) posits a future in which overpopulation, pollution, climate change, and resulting superstorms, have led to a popular mass-suicide political movement. Some other examples of ecological dystopias are depictions of Earth in the films Wall-E and Avatar . While eco-dystopias are more common,

7614-530: The 19th century, providing a critique of the British class structure at the time. Post World War II , even more dystopian fiction was produced. These works of fiction were interwoven with political commentary: the end of World War II brought about fears of an impending Third World War and a consequent apocalypse. Modern dystopian fiction draws not only on topics such as totalitarian governments and anarchism, but also pollution, global warming, climate change, health,

7755-526: The Beatles (formerly of Parlophone) and Robbie Williams (formerly of Chrysalis). The Beatles catalogue was transferred to UMG's newly formed Calderstone Productions , while Williams' catalogue was transferred to Island Records . Universal Music Group completed their acquisition of EMI on September 28, 2012. In November 2012, Steve Barnett was appointed chairman and CEO of Capitol Music Group . He formerly served as COO of Columbia Records . In compliance

7896-624: The EP's single, helped Lorde rise to prominence after it became a critical and commercial success, selling more than 10 million units worldwide. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 , making Lorde, then aged 16, the youngest artist to earn a number-one single in the United States since Tiffany in 1987, and has since been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The track won two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of

8037-515: The Edge of Time keeps human biology, but removes pregnancy and childbirth from the gender equation by resorting to assisted reproductive technology while allowing both women and men the nurturing experience of breastfeeding . Utopic single-gender worlds or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences. One solution to gender oppression or social issues in feminist utopian fiction

8178-441: The Edge of Time . In Starhawk 's The Fifth Sacred Thing there is no time-travelling observer. However, her ideal society is invaded by a neighbouring power embodying evil repression. In Aldous Huxley 's Island , in many ways a counterpoint to his better-known Brave New World , the fusion of the best parts of Buddhist philosophy and Western technology is threatened by the "invasion" of oil companies. As another example, in

8319-644: The Greek market, as part of its divesture plans, Universal Music retained Minos EMI and sold Universal Music Greece to Greek investors who renamed it Cobalt Music. Edel AG acquired the MPS catalogue from Universal in January 2014. On March 20, 2013, UMG announced the worldwide extension of their exclusive distribution deal with the Disney Music Group , excluding Japan. As a result of this deal DMG's labels and artists have access to UMG's roster of producers and songwriters on

8460-520: The Money ", taken from their 2017 record Gone Now . On Melodrama , Lorde's songwriting showed signs of maturity with introspective, post-breakup lyrics. The album was released in June 2017 to widespread critical acclaim; Metacritic placed it second on their list of the best-received records of 2017 based on inclusions in publications' year-end lists, behind Kendrick Lamar 's Damn . It debuted at number one on

8601-791: The Philippines and more. Company's legal headquarters are in the Netherlands. Universal Music Group's largest corporate shareholder, Tencent , is headquartered in Shenzhen , China. Tencent's ultimate largest controlling corporate shareholder, Naspers , is headquartered in Cape Town , South Africa. On March 8, 2022, UMG suspended all its operations in Russia , following the country's invasion of Ukraine . In 2023, UMG announced its expansion with its new office in Casablanca , Morocco. As of January 2022,

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8742-615: The Top 10 artists, including all of the top five, as well as all of the top eight artists ranked by on-demand audio streams. In August 2018, UMG announced a strategic expansion in Africa, opening an office in Abidjan to oversee French-speaking Africa, and also unveiling a Universal Music Nigeria office in Lagos to focus on signing local artists and taking them global. In September 2018, singer Elton John signed

8883-544: The US Billboard 200 , giving Lorde her first number-one album on the chart, and on record charts of Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year at the 60th ceremony . Two other singles from the album were released: " Perfect Places " and a remix of " Homemade Dynamite " featuring Khalid , Post Malone and SZA . To promote Melodrama , Lorde embarked on an international concert tour ,

9024-413: The United States, and " Glory and Gore " was released exclusively to US radio. In November 2013, Lorde signed a publishing deal with Songs Music Publishing , worth a reported US$ 2.5 million, after a bidding war between companies, including Sony Music Entertainment and her label UMG. The agreement gave the publisher the right to license Lorde's music for films and advertising. Later that month, Lorde

9165-501: The United States, the album sold over one million copies in February 2014, becoming the first debut album by a female artist since Adele 's 2008 album 19 to achieve the feat. Pure Heroine earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album and had sold four million copies worldwide as of May 2017. Three other singles were released from the album: " Tennis Court " reached number one in New Zealand, while " Team " charted at number six in

9306-533: The United States. Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music ) is a Dutch – American multinational music corporation under Dutch law . UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum , Netherlands and its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica , California. The biggest music company in

9447-499: The Year at the 56th ceremony . From late 2013 to early 2016, Lorde was in a relationship with New Zealand photographer James Lowe. Lorde's debut studio album Pure Heroine containing the single "Royals" was released in September 2013 to critical acclaim; it appeared on several year-end best album lists. The album received considerable attention for its portrayal of suburban teenage disillusionment and critiques of mainstream culture. In

9588-536: The Year. In 2015 , she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song as a songwriter for "Yellow Flicker Beat". Her second studio album Melodrama received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year at the 60th ceremony . Lorde has received two Brit Awards for International Female Solo Artist . The singer has also won two Billboard Music Awards , one MTV Video Music Award and three World Music Awards . She had sold over five million albums worldwide as of June 2017 and 15 million certified single units in

9729-492: The acquisition was completed on June 25, 2007. In June 2007, UMG acquired Sanctuary, which eventually became UMG's entertainment merchandising and brand management division, Bravado. In 2008, Universal Music Group agreed to make its catalog available to Spotify , then a new streaming service, for use outside the U.S. on a limited basis. Doug Morris stepped down from his position as CEO on January 1, 2011. Former chairman/CEO of Universal Music International Lucian Grainge

9870-538: The addition of Japan, UMG distributes releases from Disney Music Group globally. In July, the Rolling Stones signed a worldwide agreement with UMG covering the band's recorded music and audio-visual catalogues, archival support, global merchandising and brand management. That same month, Vivendi announced it would explore selling as much as half of Universal Music Group to one or more investors. In Nielsen's 2018 US Music Mid-Year report, UMG made history with eight of

10011-452: The age of 27, an age at which several iconic musicians died . Melody Island was an animated series based on tropical island music with live craft segments. Mixtape had twelve episodes, with each episode connected to a song. In October 2017, UMG announced the launch of its Accelerator Engagement Network, an initiative aimed to help develop music-based startups around the world. In November 2017, USC Annenberg announced UMG's partnership in

10152-572: The album's second and third singles on 21 July and 17 August, respectively. Lorde released Te Ao Mārama on 9 September 2021 as a companion piece to Solar Power . The EP is sung entirely in Te Reo Māori , and was translated by Hana Mereraiha. Other translators included Sir Tīmoti Kāretu and Hēmi Kelly. The project was led by Dame Hinewehi Mohi . All proceeds from the album are going towards two New Zealand-based charities: Forest & Bird and Te Hua Kawariki . In August 2023, Lorde debuted

10293-407: The album; it led her to arrange colours according to each song's theme and emotion. Lorde's stage name illustrates her fascination with " royals and aristocracy "; she added an "e" after the name Lord, which she felt was too masculine, to make it more feminine. She described her public image as something that "naturally" came to her and was identical to her real-life personality. Lorde identifies as

10434-589: The band's induction ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. Band members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl explained that they selected Lorde because her songs represented "Nirvana aesthetics" for their perceptive lyrics. Lorde also curated the accompanying soundtrack for the 2014 film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 , overseeing the collation of the album's content as well as recording four tracks, including its lead single " Yellow Flicker Beat ". In 2015,

10575-459: The caption "Solar Power", along with the message: "Arriving in 2021 ... Patience is a virtue." " Solar Power " was released on 10 June, as the lead single from her third studio album of the same name , which was released on 20 August to mixed reviews. Lorde later described the response to the record as "really confounding," and "painful". " Stoned at the Nail Salon " and " Mood Ring " were released as

10716-425: The company was renamed Universal Studios, Inc. , and its music division was renamed Universal Music Group; MCA Records continued as a label within the Universal Music Group. In May 1998, Seagram purchased PolyGram and merged it with Universal Music Group in early 1999. Seagram's entertainment assets were then sold to French media conglomerate Vivendi in 2000, along with UMG. In May 2004, Universal Music Group

10857-538: The company's catalog division, are headquartered in Santa Monica. Def Jam , Island and Republic Records also maintain offices there. UMG chairman & CEO Lucian Grainge is based at the company's Santa Monica offices. Universal Music Publishing is also headquartered in the city. Capitol Music Group is headquartered at the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood. Universal Music Latin Entertainment

10998-465: The company's shares were held by: In 2000, music companies including UMG entered into consent agreements with the Federal Trade Commission , with no admission of liability, whereby they agreed to discontinue the use of Minimum Advertised Price programs under which subsidized cooperative advertising was provided to retailers that agreed to adhere to minimum advertised pricing. In 2002,

11139-1366: The conditions of the European Commission after purchase of EMI, Universal Music Group sold the Mute catalogue to the German-based BMG Rights Management on December 22, 2012. Two months later, BMG acquired Sanctuary Records for €50 million ($ 58 million). On February 8, 2013, Warner Music Group acquired the Parlophone Label Group (consisting of Parlophone Records , Chrysalis Records , EMI Classics , Virgin Classics and EMI Records' Belgian, Czech, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Slovak and Swedish divisions) for $ 765 million (£487 million). Later in February, Sony Music Entertainment acquired UMG's European share in Now That's What I Call Music for approximately $ 60 million. Play It Again Sam acquired Co-Operative Music for £500,000 in March 2013. With EMI's absorption into Universal Music complete, its British operations consist of five label units: Island, Polydor, Decca, Virgin EMI and Capitol. In

11280-474: The court holding a trial on whether UMG had a subjective belief that the video was infringing and not fair to use before sending its request to YouTube. In April 2016, UMG had the audio muted of a video clip showing Katherine Jenkins singing the British national anthem. They claimed that the recording of " God Save the Queen " was copyrighted, and YouTube initially complied with this request, but subsequently offered

11421-405: The death of her dog Pearl. In November 2020, she announced the release of Going South , a book documenting her January 2019 visit to Antarctica with photos taken by photographer Harriet Were. On 25 May 2021, Lorde was announced as a headlining act for Primavera Sound 's June 2022 festival , her first live show performance in over two years. On 7 June, Lorde posted an image on her website with

11562-497: The development of a technological or mystical method that allows female parthenogenetic reproduction . The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers. Many influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s; the most often studied examples include Joanna Russ's The Female Man and Suzy McKee Charnas 's The Holdfast Chronicles . Such worlds have been portrayed most often by lesbian or feminist authors; their use of female-only worlds allows

11703-520: The disbandment of Island Def Jam Music , one of four operational umbrella groups within Universal Music. Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said of the closure, "No matter how much we might work to build 'IDJ' as a brand, that brand could never be as powerful as each of IDJ's constituent parts." Island Records and Def Jam now operate as autonomous record labels. David Massey and Bartels, who worked respectively at Island and Def Jam Records, were named to

11844-673: The duo covering "Mama Do" and Duffy 's " Warwick Avenue " to Universal Music Group (UMG)'s A&R executive Scott Maclachlan. Maclachlan subsequently signed her to UMG for development. Lorde was also part of the Belmont Intermediate School band Extreme; the band placed third in the North Shore Battle of the Bands finals at the Bruce Mason Centre , Takapuna, Auckland on 18 November 2009. In 2010, Lorde and McDonald formed

11985-594: The earnings call, UMG began a "strategic organizational redesign" that included company-wide layoffs. Universal Music Group co-developed with Google Vevo , a site designed for music videos inspired by Hulu , which similarly allows free ad-supported streaming of videos and other music content. On May 24, 2018, Vevo announced that it would no longer continue distributing videos to Vevo.com, instead opting to primarily focus on YouTube syndication. UMG's operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica . Interscope-Geffen-A&M and Universal Music Enterprises (UME),

12126-541: The economy and technology. Modern dystopian themes are common in the young adult (YA) genre of literature. Many works combine elements of both utopias and dystopias. Typically, an observer from our world will journey to another place or time and see one society the author considers ideal and another representing the worst possible outcome. Usually, the point is that our choices may lead to a better or worse potential future world. Ursula K. Le Guin 's Always Coming Home fulfills this model, as does Marge Piercy 's Woman on

12267-718: The exploration of female independence and freedom from patriarchy . The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all — Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a famous early example of a sexless society. Charlene Ball writes in Women's Studies Encyclopedia that use of speculative fiction to explore gender roles has been more common in the United States than in Europe and elsewhere. Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes rather than separation. Étienne Cabet 's work Travels in Icaria caused

12408-459: The fire which swept through Universal Studios Hollywood on June 1, 2008, caused "the biggest disaster in the history of the music business". In space rented from NBCUniversal, according to an official document marked "Confidential", the fire destroyed at least 118,230 "assets" ( master recordings ), or about 500,000 song titles, owned by UMG. "The vault housed tape masters for Decca , the pop, jazz and classical powerhouse; it housed master tapes for

12549-727: The first half of 2014, Lorde performed at several music festivals, including the Laneway Festival in Sydney, the three South American editions of Lollapalooza — Chile , Argentina, Brazil—and the Coachella Festival in California. She subsequently embarked on an international concert tour , commencing in North America in early 2014. Amidst her solo activities, Lorde joined the surviving members of Nirvana to perform " All Apologies " during

12690-625: The first leg of which took place in Europe in late 2017, featuring Khalid as the supporting act. She later announced the North American leg, held in March 2018, with Run the Jewels , Mitski and Tove Styrke as opening acts. A political controversy occurred in December 2017 when Lorde cancelled her scheduled June 2018 concert in Israel following an online campaign by Palestinian solidarity activists supporting

12831-683: The first time at the Victoria Theatre in November 2011. In December, Maclachlan paired Lorde with Joel Little , a songwriter, record producer, and former Goodnight Nurse lead singer. The pair recorded five songs for an extended play (EP) at Little's Golden Age Studios in Morningside, Auckland , and finished within three weeks. While working on her music career, she attended Takapuna Grammar School from 2010 to 2013, completing Year 12 . She later chose not to return in 2014 to attend Year 13 . When Lorde and Little had finished their first collaborative effort, The Love Club EP , Maclachlan applauded it as

12972-463: The focus. My vocal-scape is really important". PopMatters described Lorde's vocals as "unique and powerfully intriguing", while Billboard characterised her voice as "dynamic, smoky and restrained". For the Melodrama World Tour, however, she played a drum pad sampler , and xylophone onstage in some performances. Shortly after finishing her tour, Lorde said she had started learning to play

13113-463: The formation of the American branch of Decca Records in September 1934, and its name and company logo originate from Carl Laemmle 's Universal Pictures . Although the movie studio and the music business share a common history, today the former is part of Comcast and the latter an independent commercial entity. During World War II , many record companies donated their metal masters to recycling for

13254-566: The future instead of just the fact that it was a new, up and coming genre of literature. During the Cold War , however, utopian science fiction became exceptionally prominent among Soviet leaders. Many citizens of the Soviet Russia became dependent on this type of literature because it represented an escape from the real world which was not ideal at the time. Utopian science fiction allowed them to fantasize about how satisfactory it would be to live in

13395-408: The genre of dystopian fiction, both in [the] vividness of their engagement with real-world social and political issues and in the scope of their critique of the societies on which they focus." Another important figure in dystopian literature is H.G. Wells , whose work The Time Machine (1895) is also widely seen as a prototype of dystopian literature. Wells' work draws on the social structure of

13536-500: The inhabitants of Erewhon see as natural and right, i.e., utopian (as mocked in Voltaire 's Candide ). Dystopias usually extrapolate elements of contemporary society, and thus can be read as political warnings. Eschatological literature may portray dystopias. The 1921 novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin portrays a post-apocalyptic future in which society is entirely based on logic and modeled after mechanical systems. George Orwell

13677-609: The major Grammy Awards for the year, with Sam Smith receiving Best New Artist , Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards and Beck winning Album of the Year . In March 2016, Universal Music Canada donated the archives of EMI Music Canada to the University of Calgary . In May 2016, UMG acquired Famehouse, a digital marketing agency. That same year, Paul McCartney and the Bee Gees both signed to UMG's Capitol Records, including their catalog releases. In April 2017, UMG signed

13818-453: The most-streamed song from the pre-streaming era and the most-streamed classic rock song of all time. In February 2019, UMG fully acquired music distributor INgrooves . In June 2019, YouTube and UMG announced that they were upgrading more than 1,000 popular music videos to high definition, releasing them through 2020. In August 2019, Tencent and Vivendi started negotiation to sell 10% Vivendi's stake of Universal Music to Tencent. The deal

13959-474: The narrator of Utopia' s second book, Raphael Hythloday. The Greek root of the name "Hythloday" suggests an 'expert in nonsense'. An earlier example of a Utopian work from classical antiquity is Plato 's The Republic , in which he outlines what he sees as the ideal society and its political system . Later, Tommaso Campanella was influenced by Plato's work and wrote The City of the Sun (1623), which describes

14100-472: The new record labels independently. Barry Weiss , who previously moved from Sony Music to lead Island Def Jam Music in 2012 when Motown Records was incorporated into Island Def Jam, stepped down from Universal Music. Additionally, as part of the changes to the labels, Motown Records transferred to Los Angeles to become part of the Capitol Music Group and previous Vice President Ethiopia Habtemariam

14241-580: The physical master reels of his recordings were affected. UMG archivist Patrick Kraus assured that the Impulse! Records , John Coltrane , Muddy Waters , Ahmad Jamal , Nashboro Records , and Chess Records masters survived the fire and were still in Universal's archive. Howard King filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on June 21, 2019, on behalf of Soundgarden , Hole , Steve Earle , the estate of Tupac Shakur and

14382-427: The piano. Vice noted that her songs incorporated the mixolydian mode , a melodic structure used in " blues -based and alternative rock " music, which set her songs apart from those in pop music for not fitting a common major or minor chord. Regarding her songwriting process, Lorde explained that the foundation to her songs began with the lyrics, which could sometimes stem from a singular word meant to summarise

14523-465: The present by time or space), b. offers a comprehensive critique of present values/conditions, c. sees men or male institutions as a major cause of present social ills, d. presents women as not only at least the equals of men but also as the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions ." Utopias have explored the ramification of gender being either a societal construct or a hard-wired imperative. In Mary Gentle 's Golden Witchbreed , gender

14664-455: The project, and on December 12, he denied any involvement in the takedown notice. Megaupload dismissed its case against UMG in January 2012. Utopian and dystopian fiction#Dystopian fiction More than 400 utopian works in the English language were published prior to the year 1900, with more than a thousand others appearing during the 20th century. This increase is partially associated with

14805-677: The purchase instead. In September 2021, IPO , Euronext Amsterdam announces an introduction price of €18,50 and Vivendi set an initial valuation for UMG at €33 billion ($ 38.3 billion). Vivendi distributed 60% of its UMG shares and retaining 10%. The family of French businessman Vincent Bolloré is revealed as the majority shareholder with 28% of UMG shares, through its holding company Bolloré (18%) and its subsidiary Vivendi (10%), headed by his son Yannick Bolloré . Tencent emerged as UMG's biggest corporate shareholder with 20% of shares. Pershing Square Holdings held 10% of UMG shares. In its IPO, UMG hits €54 billion ($ 62.6 billion) valuation which

14946-399: The real world. Dystopian literature serves to "provide fresh perspectives on problematic social and political practices that might otherwise be taken for granted or considered natural and inevitable". Some dystopias claim to be utopias . Samuel Butler 's Erewhon can be seen as a dystopia because of the way sick people are punished as criminals while thieves are "cured" in hospitals, which

15087-508: The release of Pure Heroine , music critics described her music as electropop, art pop , dream pop , indie pop , and indie-electro , with influences of hip hop . Melodrama was a departure from the hip hop-oriented minimalist style of its predecessor, incorporating piano instrumentation and maximalist electronic beats. Lorde possesses a contralto vocal range. Before Melodrama , Lorde only sang and did not play musical instruments on her records or onstage, saying, "[My] voice needs to have

15228-430: The rise in popularity of science fiction and young adult fiction more generally, but also larger scale social change that brought awareness of larger societal or global issues , such as technology, climate change, and growing human population. Some of these trends have created distinct subgenres such as ecotopian fiction, climate fiction , young adult dystopian novels, and feminist dystopian novels. The word utopia

15369-516: The runner-up in the 2009 Kids' Lit Quiz World Finals, a global literature competition for students aged 10 to 14. In May 2009, Lorde and her friend Louis McDonald won the Belmont Intermediate School annual talent show as a duo. In August that year, Lorde and McDonald made a guest appearance on Jim Mora 's Afternoons show on Radio New Zealand . There, they performed covers of Pixie Lott 's " Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh) " and Kings of Leon 's " Use Somebody ". McDonald's father then sent his recordings of

15510-796: The sale of EMI to UMG was approved in the European Union and the United States by the European Commission and Federal Trade Commission respectively. However, the European Commission approved the deal only under the condition the merged company divest one third of its total operations to other companies with a proven track record in the music industry. UMG divested Mute Records , Parlophone , Roxy Recordings , MPS Records , Cooperative Music , Now That's What I Call Music! , Jazzland , Universal Greece, Sanctuary Records , Chrysalis Records , EMI Classics , Virgin Classics , and EMI's European regional labels to comply with this condition. UMG retained

15651-469: The scope of the incident and affected assets." Following the publication of the New York Times story, Questlove of The Roots confirmed that the master tapes for two of the band's albums, including unused material and multi-track recordings, were lost in the fire. Similarly, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic said he believed the masters for the band's 1991 album Nevermind were "gone forever" as

15792-529: The singer was featured in the compilation album The Art of Peace: Songs for Tibet II to raise funds for the preservation of the Tibetan culture . The following year, Lorde made a NZ$ 20,000 donation to Fuel the Need, a New Zealand charity that provides lunches for underprivileged schoolchildren. In 2018, she donated NZ$ 5,000 to Starship Hospital to fund the purchase of "five new portable neurology monitors ". Lorde became

15933-690: The songs "Silver Moon" and "Invisible Ink" during her concert at the Boardmasters Festival in Cornwall , England. In early 2024, Lorde began teasing her upcoming fourth studio album in a series of cryptic Instagram posts. Several posts included English record producer Dev Hynes . In March 2024, Lorde covered Al Green 's " Take Me to the River " as the third single from A24 Music 's Everyone's Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense . In June 2024, Lorde collaborated with Charli XCX on

16074-559: The state in settlement. In 2007, with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Stephanie Lenz sued UMG's publishing company for allegedly improperly requesting that, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , YouTube remove a 29-second home video in which Lenz's child danced to a recording of Prince's song " Let's Go Crazy ". After years of litigation, the suit settled in 2018, prior to

16215-580: The storied blues label Chess ; it housed masters for Impulse! , the groundbreaking jazz label. The vault held masters for the MCA, ABC, A&M, Geffen and Interscope labels; as well as some smaller subsidiary labels. Nearly all of these masters—in some cases, the complete discographies of entire record labels—were wiped out in the fire." In a statement issued on June 11, 2019, UMG said The New York Times article contained "numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions and fundamental misunderstandings of

16356-642: The street. Universal Music Group's Universal Music Polska is located in Warsaw . Universal Music Group's Universal Music Canada is located in Toronto . Universal Music Japan is headquartered in Shibuya , Tokyo. UMG operates in more than 60 territories around the world including Australia, Central America, Brazil, France, India, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,

16497-603: The takedown was ordered under the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , and said that the takedown was "pursuant to the UMG-YouTube agreement," which gives UMG "the right to block or remove user-posted videos through YouTube's CMS (Content Management System) based on a number of contractually specified criteria." The video was subsequently returned to YouTube, with the reasons for the UMG takedown remaining unclear. Lawyers for will.i.am initially claimed that he had never agreed to

16638-455: The track earned Lorde a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song . Later that year, she was featured on British electronic duo Disclosure 's song " Magnets " off their 2015 album Caracal . In January 2016, Lorde relocated to Ponsonby , an inner-city suburb of Auckland. At the 2016 Brit Awards in February, Lorde and David Bowie 's final touring band gave a tribute performance of his 1971 song " Life on Mars ". Pianist Mike Garson ,

16779-616: The utopian genre's meaning and purpose is described in Fredric Jameson 's Archeologies of the Future (2005) , which addresses many utopian varieties defined by their program or impulse. A dystopia is a society characterized by a focus on that which is contrary to the author's ethos , such as mass poverty, public mistrust and suspicion, a police state or oppression. Most authors of dystopian fiction explore at least one reason why things are that way, often as an analogy for similar issues in

16920-553: The valuation to $ 50 billion in 2019. In August 2013, UMG became the first company in the US to have nine of the Top 10 songs on the digital charts, according to SoundScan and weeks later, became the first company to hold all 10 of the Top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart . In September 2013, UMG received a SAG-AFTRA American Scene Award for the company's commitment to diversity as exemplified by its "entire catalog and roster of artists." On April 1, 2014, Universal Music announced

17061-440: The value created by artists. Indeed, in September 2023, they announced their launch of an artist-centric streaming model designed to better remunerate the artists and music that fans mostly enjoy. Also in 2023, Universal Music Group introduced a HBCU scholarship program for aspiring doctors. In October 2023, UMG and BandLab Technologies formed a partnership to protect the rights of artists as well as songwriters and guarantee

17202-440: The video with the original audio track. In December 2007, UMG announced a deal with Imeem that allowed users of the social network to listen to any track from Universal's catalogue for free with a portion of the advertising generated by the music being shared with the record label. All traffic was redirected to MySpace after that company acquired Imeem on December 8, 2009. According to Jody Rosen of The New York Times ,

17343-530: The war effort. However, Universal was an exception and donated more than 200,000 of their historic master recordings to the Library of Congress . The Decca Record Co. Ltd. of England spun American Decca off in 1939. MCA Inc. merged with American Decca in 1962. In November 1990, Japanese multinational conglomerate Matsushita Electric agreed to acquire MCA for $ 6.59 billion. In 1995, Seagram acquired 80 percent of MCA from Matsushita. On December 9, 1996,

17484-587: The way home from parties in her hometown of Auckland. She cited the 1950 science fiction short story " There Will Come Soft Rains " by Ray Bradbury as inspiration for much of Melodrama ' s story, relating it to her own realities she faced. Lorde is noted for her unconventional pop sound and introspective songwriting. In a 2017 interview with NME , she declared "I don't think about staying in my genre lane". AllMusic 's Stephen Thomas Erlewine characterised her style as primarily electropop , while scholar Tony Mitchell categorized her as an alt-pop singer. Upon

17625-458: The world is described as a utopia. However, as the book progresses, the world's dystopian aspects are revealed. Jonathan Swift 's Gulliver's Travels is also sometimes linked with both utopian and dystopian literatures, because it shares the general preoccupation with ideas of good and bad societies. Of the countries Lemuel Gulliver visits, Brobdingnag and Country of the Houyhnhnms approach

17766-498: The world, it is one of the " Big Three " record labels, along with Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group . Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG prior to its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The company went public on September 21, 2021, at

17907-514: Was self-released in 2012 for free download on SoundCloud before it was commercially released in 2013. The EP's single " Royals " reached number one in Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, where it spent nine weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 . It sold 10 million units worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. Her debut studio album Pure Heroine

18048-523: Was briefly enrolled at George Parkyn Centre , a gifted education organisation. Sonja unenrolled her, however, citing social development concerns. As a child, Lorde attended Vauxhall School and then Belmont Intermediate School in her early teens. While attending Vauxhall, she placed third and first respectively in the North Shore Primary Schools' Speech competition, a national contest, in 2006 and 2007. Lorde and her Belmont team were named

18189-533: Was cast under separate management from Universal Studios, when Vivendi sold 80% of the latter to General Electric , who subsequently merged it with NBC to form NBCUniversal . This came two months after the separation of Warner Music Group from Time Warner . In February 2006, Vivendi purchased the remaining 20 percent of UMG from Matsushita Electric . On September 6, 2006, Vivendi announced its €1.63 billion ($ 2.4 billion) purchase of BMG Music Publishing ; after receiving European Union regulatory approval,

18330-440: Was estimated that consumers were overcharged by $ 500 million and up to $ 5 per album. In May 2006, an investigation led by then New York Attorney General , Eliot Spitzer , concluded with a determination that Universal Music Group bribed radio stations to play songs from Ashlee Simpson , Brian McKnight , Big Tymers , Nick Lachey , Lindsay Lohan and other performers under Universal labels. The company paid $ 12 million to

18471-525: Was featured on the soundtrack for the 2013 film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , performing a cover of Tears for Fears ' 1985 song " Everybody Wants to Rule the World ". Time included her on their lists of the most influential teenagers in the world in 2013 and 2014. Forbes also placed her on their 2014 edition of 30 Under 30 ; she was the youngest individual to be featured. Billboard featured her on their 21 Under 21 list in 2013, 2014, and 2015. In

18612-452: Was first used in direct context by Thomas More in his 1516 work Utopia . The word utopia resembles both the Greek words outopos ("no place"), and eutopos ("good place"). More's book, written in Latin , sets out a vision of an ideal society . As the title suggests, the work presents an ambiguous and ironic projection of the ideal state. The whimsical nature of the text can be confirmed by

18753-399: Was included in the 2013 charity album Songs for the Philippines to support the people in the Philippines who suffered from Typhoon Haiyan . In 2015, Lorde recorded " Team Ball Player Thing ", a charity single , as part of the supergroup Kiwis Cure Batten. All sales from the song went towards research for the cure of Batten disease , a fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Later that year,

18894-487: Was influenced by We when he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949), a novel about Oceania , a state at perpetual war, its population controlled through propaganda . Big Brother and the daily Two Minutes Hate set the tone for an all-pervasive self-censorship. Aldous Huxley 's 1932 novel Brave New World started as a parody of utopian fiction, and projected into the year 2540 industrial and social changes he perceived in 1931, leading to industrial success by

19035-507: Was president of production as head of film and television development and production, and theater producer Scott Landis as special advisor on theatrical development and production. UMG Executive Vice President Michele Anthony and Universal Music Publishing Group Chairman and CEO Jody Gerson have oversight of the pair. On February 11, 2017, PolyGram Entertainment was relaunched as a film and television unit of Universal Music Group under David Blackman. In 2015, UMG's Capitol Records earned all

19176-593: Was promoted to CEO of the company. Grainge later replaced Morris as chairman on March 9, 2011. Morris became the next chairman of Sony Music Entertainment on July 1, 2011. With Grainge's appointment as CEO at UMG, Max Hole was promoted to COO of UMGI, effective July 1, 2010. In January 2011, UMG announced it was donating 200,000 master recordings from the 1920s to 1940s to the Library of Congress for preservation. In 2011, EMI agreed to sell its recorded music operations to Universal Music Group for £1.2 billion ($ 1.9 billion) and its music publishing operations to

19317-505: Was promoted to Label President for Motown Records. Universal Music Group entered into film and TV production with the 2014 purchase of Eagle Rock Entertainment . UMG's first major film production was Amy , which won an Oscar for Best Documentary, while taking part in Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week documentaries. In January 2016, UMG hired David Blackman from Laurence Mark Production where he

19458-450: Was released in March 2017 to critical acclaim; several publications ranked it as one of the best songs of the year, NME and The Guardian placing it in the top spot on their respective lists. It achieved moderate commercial success, reaching number one in New Zealand, number four in Australia and number nine in Canada. Later that month, she co-wrote and provided background vocals for American indie pop band Bleachers 's song " Don't Take

19599-479: Was released that same year to critical and commercial success. The following year, Lorde curated the soundtrack for the 2014 film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 . Lorde collaborated with producer Jack Antonoff for her second studio album Melodrama (2017), which received widespread critical acclaim and debuted atop the US Billboard 200 . The album has since been ranked in Rolling Stone 's list of

19740-536: Was removed following a takedown request by UMG. Megaupload said that the video contained no infringing content, commenting: "we have signed agreements with every featured artist for this campaign". Megaupload requested an apology from UMG, and filed a lawsuit against the company in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California , on December 12, 2011. UMG denied that

19881-494: Was usually anti-collectivist. Dystopian fiction emerged as a response to the utopian. Its early history is traced in Gregory Claeys' Dystopia: A Natural History (Oxford University Press, 2017). The beginning of technological dystopian fiction can be traced back to E. M. Forster 's (1879–1970) " The Machine Stops ." M Keith Booker states that "The Machine Stops," We and Brave New World are "the great defining texts of

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