Lorde stays off social media because it makes her “stressed” about the state of the world.
Lorde
The ‘Royals’ hitmaker - whose real name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor - has stepped away from her Instagram and Twitter accounts, and has now revealed her decision to disappear from social media was influenced by the amount of negative news stories she was reading online that impacted her mood.
Speaking as she interviewed Cazzie David for Interview magazine, she said: “Part of what made me peace out on social media, apart from feeling like I was losing my free will, was the massive amounts of stress I was feeling about our planet, about systemic racism, and about police brutality in this country.”
Earlier this year, the 23-year-old singer did return to Instagram temporarily, when she used her platform to speak out against police brutality, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.
She wrote in part of a lengthy post at the time: “One of the things I find most frustrating about social media is performative activism, predominantly by white celebrities (like me). It’s hard to strike a balance between self-serving social media displays and true action. But part of being an ally is knowing when to speak and when to listen, and I know that white silence right now is more damaging than someone’s wack protest selfie.”
Lorde also revealed she had attended a “peaceful protest” in Auckland, New Zealand, and called out police brutality as “racist, it’s sickening, and it’s unsurprising”.
She concluded her post - which was originally sent to subscribers of her mailing list before being posted on social media - by writing: “To my black and brown listeners — I’m so sorry this is your reality, that you haven’t had a choice but to be defined by this, to give it your energy. I’m aware of that tax on you. I hope white people you know are doing what they can to ease your load. And I really, really hope systems will change to better protect you.”
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