Pretty soon I'll be getting on my first plane
I'll see the veins of my city like they do in space

from Lorde – Tennis Court Lyrics on Genius


Prior to her becoming famous, Lorde had never been on an international flight. Many people have assumed from this line that she had never been on an airplane before this song, but in an article on the Sunday Times Magazine (UK), she stated she had been on domestic flights. Therefore, she probably had never flown an airplane before reaching fame. She couldn’t afford flying in one, and had no reason to fly in one either.

When flying in a plane, your view of a city from above makes the streets, lights and highways take the form of a connected series of veins. Instead of blood, these “veins” carry cars and dreams.

Veins carry blood to the heart (in comparison to arteries, which bring blood away) and are crucial to the heart, which is crucial to life.

Lorde represents New Zealand, and by representing her city in mainstream America with her recent success, she is the veins of her city. She keeps it alive.

This line can also be seen as Lorde seeing the vains of her city. Vain as in superficial and narcissistic. Lorde looks down, both physically and metaphorically, on the apparent superficial state of society.

However, the phrase “veins of my city” is actually most likely less deep, but does have multiple meanings. The most realistic is that it is a poetic description of the routes, paths, trails, roadways, railways, waterways, and such being lit. After all, seeing them light up at night, and even seeing them in the day, remind one of weaving and winding vascular bundles (arteries, capillaries, veins) — all the motors and vehicles are like cells and other materials.
