One of the great things about Lorde is that she’s a serious young pop star who seems to have the ideas and tastes of a serious young person. Case in point: Her Twitter bio is a Bright Eyes quote, “No, I am not singing for you.” Conor Oberst also counts himself as a Lorde admirer, and he, like her, started putting out records as a teenager. The New York Times had the bright idea to get them together for a conversation. They still haven’t met, but in the phone conversation, there’s something sweet about the way they gush over each other. Lorde to Oberst: “The way you express emotion as a songwriter, it’s, like, childlike. It’s fierce and honest and intense, and you’re kind of defying people to say that they didn’t feel the same way as you. Everyone has those feelings that they don’t quite want to admit, but which you do, in songwriting.” Oberst to Lorde: “You can have this amazing pop anthem that the whole world’s going to sing, and you can still communicate solid, concrete ideas and paint this very vivid picture of lost teenagers in this faraway place.” The whole thing is really nice, and you can read it here.