Is Taylor Helping Lorde Let Loose?

It’s an understood rule amongst, well, Swifties I suppose, that if you are going to hang with Taylor Swift, you have to be OK with cats, have a tummy for baked goods, and be prepared to show her your moves. So when Lorde’s “Yellow Flicker Beat” music video came out Thursday, my first thought was that Lorde may have been influenced by her friend Swift's love of letting loose and dancing. I was struck by how different this video is from say “Royals” or even “Tennis Court,” because instead of sitting in a room with dramatic lighting and amazing eye make-up. Lorde’s dancing and it’s awesome. Is this what it’s like when she and T Swizzle do their dance sessions?

As I’ve learned as an outsider looking in at Swift's 1989 sessions and even her appearances at music award shows, she will get up and dance to her cat-loving heart’s content, and any friend who is nearby will get up and join her. Dancing and Swift’s enthusiasm is just that infectious. This is probably why so many people wondered at her relationship with the singer Lorde. The juxtaposition between the two from their music aesthetic to their style made people scratch their heads in wonder and brought to mind a kitten befriending duck, but it makes sense as the two are young women in the music industry. Lorde’s been seen shopping —sadly not at Lord & Taylor which would've been perfect — baking, and prancing on beaches with Swift, and I can only assume they swap stories about their naturally curly hair and how they showcase their Grammys in their homes. That or they chat about what types of full-proof lipsticks they use: Lorde’s in a deeper red or even a black and Swift’s in a bright cherry red. More importantly, I’m sure they take part in Dance Time, the phrase I coined during college when my roommate would leave for class and I could jump out of bed, blast Franz Ferdinand, and let my inner Beyoncé take over the open space of our shared room. I think Lorde and Swift probably do the same.

We got a glimpse of it at this year's MTV VMA's.

We all know Lorde has an erratic, slightly creepy dance style. I'm thinking of Lorde's "Royals" performance during the Grammys. Ink-dipped hands, straight hair, jerky movements.

Then there's Taylor Swift's dancing, which is labeled "awkward" when you search it. I don't know why. It's bopping up and down, sashaying, singing along.

Obviously, both women have different approaches to dance. Lorde is very much a shoulders and hand gyrater. Swift is a hips and spinning savant. Thanks to "Yellow Flicker Beat" we get a better glimpse of Lorde letting it all out. It's a different type of dancing than I've seen from Lorde before, and if not for the dramatic lighting and the build up of the song, I would admit that it looks sporadic. But I'm accepting of all dance types as long as you give it your all — sprinkler, Macarena, etc. — and Lorde is killing it with the shoulders, pickin' up the beat in moves that are akin to a rapper's. I wonder if she's found her dance maven thanks to Dance Time with Swift?

Now just pretend Swift is somewhere in that dark room doing this.

Owning their red outfits, expressing themselves through movement... I'm not saying that they've been dancing together on their down time, but I wouldn't rule it out. Check out the full video for "Yellow Flicker Beat" to see Lorde awesomely let loose:

Images: Giphy (3); Stereogum.com; Angelina-Jolies/tumblr