ena Dunham: I was thinking about questions and I really wanted to make sure that, even though it’s the Girls Rule the World issue, we talk about more things than being a girl. The first thing I wanted to know was if you feel, as I do, that a lot of your interviews end up being exclusively about being female and being young in a way that you find exhausting.

Lorde: (laughs) Yeah, I mean… There are only so many times you can answer those questions. People always want to know if it’s ‘hard being a girl in this industry’ and it’s kind of like, ‘Well, it is hard sometimes. But also, I’m good, you know?’

Lena Dunham: Totally! You’re like, ‘I’m also a young person who’s really enjoying her career and having the career that she wants.’

Lorde: Yeah. I think people like hearing the horror stories about old male executives having the wrong idea (about my music), which happens, but, you know…

Lena Dunham: It’s not like you’ve come into this as a Disney star, or had lots of people trying to commodify your sexuality. It feels to me, as an outsider, like you’ve been able to keep control of your work in a very important way.

Lorde: I sometimes get asked, ‘Did people try to sexualise you early on in your career?’ But I came into this with such a strong viewpoint – even when I was 13 or 14, my sense of self felt too permanent for anyone to fuck with. You know, whenever there was a makeover suggestion or like, ‘Do you wanna try this push- up bra?’ I think I freaked enough people out – or intimidated enough people – that it didn’t happen. But also, does that still happen these days? Is that a thing? I feel like people think more of teenage girls than that.

Via Dazed