SHE looks a little like Lana Del Rey but moves like Ian Curtis.
Or, at least, like Ian Curtis had Ian Curtis begun an uncharacteristic leaning towards R&B. Lorde, a 17-year-old Kiwi with an excess of curls and lip, has the stage sewn up. Her first single, Royals, had a similar hype to that of Del Rey's 2011 introduction Video Games, but Lorde's music is more that of an old head on a young shoulders. Sharp, insightful lyrics meet bold vocals and even bolder presentation.
Having drawn a large crowd, Lorde, whose songs are a certain kind of jaded that only a teenager can produce, raised two fingers to celebrity. Ribs, with its dance beats, and Tennis Courts knock your socks off. She is not afraid to stop and talk to her audience who are on tenterhooks for Royals, which arrives second-last in the set and is not a disappointment. Snapping percussion, tight but relaxed vocals and the kind of delivery that suggests a performer not to be messed with.
By the end of the set she has wrapped herself in a gold lame cloak and is billowing her final song into the tent while streamers blow in the air. It's a fetching end to an interesting set from an impressive young woman.
Similarly, after opening with the line: "I've got a night off from my kids and I'm going to get drizunk," Lily Allen could do wrong. Hard Out Here sees her joining a brace of backing dancers to skewer the entrenched sexism of the music industry. The audience packed into Glasgow Green hardly care for such political points - they're just looking for fun. And Allen produces the goods in spades with tongue lasciviously in cheek.
Her new album, Sheezus, gets a thorough airing with Hard Out Here, URL Badman and Our Time.
The slight Air Balloon risked sounding inconsequential on such a large platform but Allen injects it with so much fun that it rings out across the park.
Fitting in a change of skirt between tracks, Allen carried the crowd along with her on a swell of positivity, not least during Smile.
Her voice occasionally struggles with pitch and tone but was more powerful and commanding than might be expected from her studio recordings. It's Not Fair, with its jaunty country-style backing and a slew of images of naked beefcakes has the crowd bouncing.
With a deep tan and sparkling gold top, Allen is a vibrant affair, catching the last rays of the late afternoon sun.
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