Indy (Yelich-O’Connor) first made waves in 2022, with a flurry of singles later collated into the early 2023 EP ‘Threads’ showing the world that she’s got plenty more going on than just being Lorde’s younger sister. Indy’s sweet-toned vocals and confessional storytelling soon earned her a supportive fanbase. Released in August 2025, her second EP, ‘Fame Is A Bedroom’, sees Indy coming into her own sound; an airy, guitar-laced brand of indie pop, driven by catchy vocal hooks and lyrics that pack an emotional punch. Nur Peach caught with her in New York. 

When Indy Yelich-O’Connor speaks of receiving her popstar idol’s words of wisdom, she doesn’t mean reading quotes online. A 2024 NZ Herald interview saw Indy discussing an invaluable piece of advice from her sister Ella, better known as global superstar Lorde, about the importance of advocating for your own voice. This voice comes through with a steel-backed fragility on Indy’s sophomore EP. While her 2023 first EP ‘Threads’ felt more exploratory, ‘Fame Is A Bedroom’ is grounded in a much more determined sense of personal and artistic identity.

“I trusted myself a lot more,” says Indy. “I know the sounds, I know the things I want to hear. So I think you can hear it’s me, because it’s something that’s quite unusual. I really love a fast pre-chorus, I love a bridge that feels very dramatic. I do think that this record is more how I wanted to sound. I wanted to sound like the music I like to listen to, more so than pop. I wanted it to feel a little left-leaning. I wanted it to feel indie, and Indy!”

The sonic cohesion of ‘Fame Is A Bedroom’ is a testament to this newfound confidence, particularly considering that a variety of producers were involved, including songwriting/production duo Noise Club, Boy Blue and Miro Mackie, who was also all over ‘Threads’.

The five songs have come together over the course of two years, the EP title reflecting on her own bedroom having been invaded by her sister’s fame. Opening track Savior, a dramatically emotive heartbreak ballad in the tradition of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, was the first one written.

“Savior is about a formative relationship when I was younger. It’s about that loss of identity when you date someone who’s older than you and feels more like a guardian than an equal. That song took like, 15 versions or something. It was insane! Every part about that was emotionally draining, but I knew I was really proud of it. It’s really hard to enunciate something that you’ve gone through, but when you get that point, you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s done!’ It’s really cathartic when you finally get in words what the situation felt like.”

You can hear Indy’s anguish in the finished recording which paints a picture of a self-important, image conscious man, the type who would “…smell inside books, then you take a second look at the mirror in the hallway.” In the pre-chorus she lands the direct punch, ‘You’re 35 and you have a daughter – how would you feel if this happened to her?’

“I was really proud of that line, but I was nervous for it to be received! Ultimately, I can only write about what I’ve experienced, and so I always write from the perspective of how would it feel like when I was younger, or just try to always honour that in a child.”

The song’s unusual music video, with Indy wearing jeans, a T-shirt and angel wings, has a particular symbolism.

“I always think a really classic outfit is blue jeans and a white shirt, and then you have those wings. And I’m literally running away from there. To me, that symbolises the loss of innocence. I was 20 – 25 at the point of that happening, and you can’t really navigate that when someone has already had a job and they’ve already done all the things you haven’t done.”

Up In Flames (The Wayland), which Indy identifies as her favourite, is a driving, breezy pop number calling to mind Taylor Swift’s The Way I Loved You, the lyrics about missing an ex while dating someone new. ‘I take my new man down to the Wayland… and pretty soon I’ll be seeing him with your face,’ she sings in the chorus. Wayland is a real venue in New York City (where Indy moved to live when just 18), as the music video illustrates.

“It’s on Avenue C in the East Village, and it’s borderline a dive bar, but they have really good cocktails! It had a lot of significance for me, because it was a place that I frequented with someone I was in a long-term relationship with. Up In Flames is about trying to make someone more than they are, or simultaneously, trying to get over a breakup. When you’re dating again, and you’re bringing someone the same place, and you’re a little tipsy. When you have muscle memory of someone, and you’ve lived in this world together, it’s so hard to try and recreate that with someone else. It’s me also being like, ‘Look, I’m also the problem here too.’ It just doesn’t work, because your body even knows, ‘the person’s wonderful, but it’s just not for me.’”

Idol, a slower, dreamy synth-driven track, has Indy singing to her famous sister with startling vulnerability.

“It’s about navigating such a personal relationship when it feels like she belongs to the public.  We’re really, really close, and she’s really supportive of me as well. Idol is about making peace with your identity and how you grew up, and how you can only really be yourself. It’s about realising that my identity is my identity, and it doesn’t always have to be tied to someone else. But also, it’s a love song to someone who was essentially my idol since we were kids. When you grow up, you realise your best friends are your family.”

Grace is again a slower track, an Olivia Rodrigo-esque breakup ballad with lyrical imagery providing a clear, specific picture.

“This song was kind of about the idea of having a long-term relationship, and the acknowledgement that they’re going to date someone. I wanted it to feel like it’s the world we shared, and it’s over and it’s really sad and it’s really hard, but there really is no clarity. I don’t believe in closure in a long-term relationship. You just move on, you don’t fall out love.”

In the chorus, Indy sings, ‘You go home with Grace,’ the name chosen for its meaning.

“I chose it because there’s a saying ‘go with grace.’ I wanted it to be a specific name that you think of another woman. It means two things; ‘go home with someone else, while I stay here getting drunk at the bar’, or I can keep it classy, then ‘go with grace and leave our relationship with the grace it deserves.’”

The song ends with an unconventional piano outro which, backed by the lyric, feels very climactic.

“That outro bridge is my dream. I wish the whole song was like that, but it’s a tidbit. It literally came from a journal entry. There’s this thing called taxi cab theory. It talks about how when a man is ready to settle down, they’ll kind of settle with whoever is available, in a sense. The idea is like this man is a taxi, and he’s said, ‘Hop out of the car.’ I love that statement of ‘Give him what he wants,’ just hand it to him, because you can’t fight someone like that. It’s incredible to me, because it feels like the final acknowledgement of this toxic, messy, beautiful love story that we shared.”

Closing off her EP is Sail Away, a buoyant, sassy pop song with a huge chorus.

“I really love the beach and the water, and surfing and fishing,” Indy explains with a smile. “So I want it to end with essentially saying ‘sail away…’ like, ‘Goodbye, I’m done.’”

Written about a past female friendship, Sail Away carries undertones of something more.

“Even though all the songs are a sonic farewell, this one is more painful because it’s about these homoerotic friendships that are like girl friendships. I just do not think I hear enough of people talking about the pain of the loss of a female friendship, whether it’s a girlfriend or a breakup, or not even romantic at all. And even though I feel like my heart’s been broken by men, it’s more women that have lasted. There’s just so much complexity to these female relationships, and female friendships, and I really wanted to try and articulate that.”

In retrospect, Indy has realised that the theme of the impact of women permeates more than just this one song.

“This record is actually about women. I thought it was about men, but it’s not. It’s about myself. It’s about my sister. It’s about the idea of your ex-boyfriend’s new partner. It’s really not so centred on men at all. It’s about the effects of women in a strange way.”