A rare neurological condition means Lorde experiences music much more vividly than most of us - and she's using it to help craft her hits, as many other artists have before her.
Synaesthesia is a phenomenon where senses are mixed - for example, the note F may be a reddish shade of rust, or the number three may be pink.
In Lorde's case, sound-to-colour synaesthesia means she sees specific colours when certain notes are played.
The 'Royals' hitmaker said in an interview she uses it to colour-code each of her songs and map out the hues that she associates with the different themes in her music.
"From the moment I start something, I can see the finished song, even if it's far-off and foggy," she told the New York Times.
"It's about getting the actual thing to sound like what I've been seeing."
On Twitter, Lorde said it played an especially strong role in her creation of recent hit 'Green Light'.
"I remember my synaesthesia was really blaring in the session; this swirling combo of high school and recent and private and public memories," she said.
Lorde is far from the first artist to use synaesthesia to their advantage.
Notable others include visual artist David Hockney, jazz master Duke Ellington and musicians Mary J Blige, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel and Pharrell Williams.
According to the Scientific American, the estimated occurrence of synaesthesia ranges from rarer than one in 20,000 to as prevalent as one in 200 - but the rates are higher among visual artists, poets and novelists.
People with autism are also more likely to have synaesthesia.
Lorde performed at Coachella over the weekend, debuting new material that will appear on her second album Melodrama, set for release in June.
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