Bravado (song)

"Bravado" was written by Lorde (credited under her birth-name Ella Yelich-O'Connor) and Joel Little, while production for the song was handled by the latter.[2] The track was written and recorded in 2012 at Little's Golden Age Studios in Auckland.[3][4] Within a week, Lorde had finished recording "Bravado" alongside "Royals" and "Biting Down" during a school break.[5] Chris Schulz, from The New Zealand Herald, described "Bravado" as a chamber pop piece,[6] while The Village Voice's Brittany Spanos called it an electropop song.[7]

Running for a duration of 3:41 (three minutes and 41 seconds),[2] the track is composed on electronic beats in the key of B minor and plays in common time at a moderate tempo of 88 beats per minute.[8][9] Lorde's vocal range on the song spans from F♯₃ to D₅.[8] The lyrics of "Bravado" address the idea "of false confidence delivering real confidence" and of Lorde stepping into a line of work where, she said, "everyone would be watching me, and everyone would want to talk to me and confront me".[10] Lorde cited the line "Me found bravery in my bravado" from Kanye West's 2010 song "Dark Fantasy" as an influence.[11] Simon Collins, of The West Australian, called "Bravado" a particularly prescient song, preempting Lorde's rise to prominence.[12] At a point of the song, Lorde confesses "to a battle between shyness and show-business aspirations":

On 6 September 2013, "Bravado" was released as a digital download single on iTunes Stores in India and various European countries.[1] Lorde held a concert at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, which was her first U.S. live show, and performed the song among other tracks from The Love Club EP.[13] On 3 October 2013, the singer held a concert at the Warsaw Venue in Brooklyn and performed the song among other tracks from the album.[14] In November 2013, Lorde performed the song on the Late Show with David Letterman to promote The Love Club EP and Pure Heroine. Throughout the show, she was only backed by a drummer and a keyboard player.[15] "Bravado" was additionally performed during Lorde's debut concert tour throughout 2013 and 2014.[16] In 2014, she performed the track at Silo Park, Auckland on 29 January 2014 as part of her make-up show for the 2014 Laneway Festival,[17] and at the Brazil edition of the Lollapalooza.[18]

"Bravado" was well received by music critics. Chris Schulz from The New Zealand Herald picked the song and "Million Dollar Bills" as the two best tracks from The Love Club EP.[6] Jason Lipshutz, writing for Billboard, described the track as "delightfully spooky".[13] In a review published in The Dominion Post, Tom Cardy compared the track's style to that of works by Florence Welch and Marina Diamandis, labelling it a "sharp, refreshing and smart" song.[19] The song peaked at number five on the New Zealand National Singles and number twenty-nine on the US Hot Rock Songs chart.[20][21]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
• Lorde performing "Bravado" on Late Show with David Letterman on YouTube