Whakapapa of Royals

Overview

In lesson 5 of 10 in Sound, Story, Identity, students investigate Lorde’s “Royals” through its official video and selected live or recorded performance clips. They build a sourced musical whakapapa, considering New Zealand context, influences, collaborators, genre connections and the song’s place in contemporary popular music, then compare it with TAWAZ’s work.

Learning intentions

• We are learning to identify musical concepts and contexts in “Royals”.
• We are learning to explain how musical choices connect with identity, place and popular culture.
• We are learning to use reliable sources and record information in a listening log.
• We are learning to compare similarities and differences between two artists’ works.

Success criteria

• I can describe significant musical features of “Royals”, including texture, timbre, rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics and production.
• I can explain at least two relationships between the music and its New Zealand, personal or popular-culture contexts.
• I can record concise, sourced notes in the whakapapa section of my listening log.
• I can make a supported comparison with TAWAZ’s work.

Curriculum links

• Music: demonstrating understanding of music in relation to cultural, historical and social contexts.
• Music: using musical elements, features, conventions and culturally grounded practices to interpret music.
• The refreshed New Zealand Curriculum: developing learners who are connected, culturally capable, critical and creative thinkers.
• Learning through inquiry: gathering, evaluating and communicating information while respecting different cultural contexts and perspectives.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Reconnect and hook. Teacher opens the hook and lesson-intention slides and asks, “What can a song tell us about the place and time it comes from?” Students revisit the previous lesson’s ideas about TAWAZ and individually write one prediction about Lorde’s musical identity.

2. 5–12 min · First listening: official video. Teacher plays an appropriate excerpt or the full official video for “Royals”, reminding students to focus on sound, image and representation rather than trying to complete notes. Students jot three observations: one musical, one visual and one contextual.

3. 12–19 min · Guided musical noticing. Teacher returns to the musical-features slides and plays selected excerpts, modelling precise listening for sparse texture, vocal delivery, repeated rhythmic patterns, bass, electronic production, contrast and form. Students contribute evidence using the sentence frame: “I hear ___, which creates ___.”

4. 19–27 min · Building a musical whakapapa. Teacher uses the sourced-context and whakapapa slides to present verified, age-appropriate information about Lorde’s Auckland/New Zealand context, influences, collaborators, song development, genre connections and the track’s reception. Teacher explicitly distinguishes fact, interpretation and opinion, and explains that “whakapapa” here means tracing relationships and lineage in the music, not claiming ownership of Māori concepts. Students complete the whakapapa section of the Royals listening-log worksheet, recording source names or publication details alongside each note.

5. 27–35 min · Performance comparison. Teacher plays two short, contrasting performance clips and displays the performance-comparison prompts. Students work in pairs, identifying what remains recognisable and what changes through vocal approach, instrumentation, arrangement, staging, audience and technology. Each pair shares one musical choice and its possible effect.

6. 35–41 min · Compare with TAWAZ. Teacher directs students to their earlier TAWAZ listening-log notes and models a two-column comparison. Students complete the comparison section of the Royals listening-log worksheet, giving at least two similarities, two differences and one explanation linking a musical choice to context or identity.

7. 41–45 min · Plenary and exit check. Teacher uses the reflection and exit-question slide to ask, “Which relationship in Lorde’s musical whakapapa is most significant, and why?” Students submit their worksheet or read a 30-second response, identifying one supported conclusion and one question for the next lesson.

Resources

• the “Whakapapa of Royals” lesson deck
• the Royals listening-log worksheet
• Official “Royals” music video, or teacher-selected suitable excerpts
• Two suitable performance clips, downloaded or pre-checked
• Audio playback, projector and speakers
• Students’ previous TAWAZ listening logs
• Teacher-prepared source notes with publication details
• Headphones or a quiet listening station, if available

Assessment

• During listening, check whether students use specific musical vocabulary and refer to audible evidence rather than general opinions.
• Review whakapapa notes for accurate distinctions between musical concepts, contextual information and interpretation, as well as recorded source details.
• Use the final response to assess whether students can draw a supported conclusion about the significance of a music–context relationship and compare Lorde with TAWAZ.

Differentiation

• Provide a word bank, a partially completed whakapapa diagram and sentence starters such as “This reflects the context because…” and “Both works use…, whereas…”.
• Offer repeated short excerpts, visual waveform or lyric prompts, and permission to record oral responses before transferring key ideas to the worksheet.
• Support EAL learners with plain-language definitions, paired discussion and carefully selected images; avoid requiring idiomatic interpretations of lyrics.
• Extend confident students by asking them to evaluate whether “Royals” challenges or reproduces conventions of mainstream popular music, using two contrasting performance examples.
• Maintain cultural care by presenting Māori concepts accurately, avoiding token comparisons, and inviting students to distinguish what can be claimed from what requires further research.