Lorde-Melodrama
One of those times where the alphabet screws me over, today we talk about Lorde’s best album, and tomorrow her debut (which is also great).
A native New Zealander, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor was born in 1996. In 2009, she won a talent show with her friend Louis, this led to Ella being on a Radio show which in turn led to her being signed by UMG. She released her first EP, The Love Club in 2012, at the age of 16. This EP contained “Royals,” a song which would later go on her debut LP the following year. “Royals” turned out to be a star-maker for Lorde and she became a household name overnight, more on her rise to fame tomorrow… Melodrama began to take form as Lorde shied away from the spotlight following her meteoric rise, however, a major breakup would soon shape the album we know today. In late 2013, mere months after the release of Pure Heroine, Lorde announced she was working on new material. Meanwhile, her three year relationship ended at the beginning of 2016, which put the album production in full swing. Finished in August 2016, the lead single “Greenlight” would release in March of the following year. This single reached no. 1 in her native New Zealand and no. 19 in the US. Two more singles were released with much less chart success. The album was met with critical acclaim and commercial success. Debuting at no. 1 in four countries including NZ & the US. Melodrama is x3 Platinum in NZ and Gold in the US.
Oh boy, where to start with a perfect album. Melodrama was such a moment in culture and in my life. In the summer of 2017, I had started a new job (which I’m still with), I was making new friends, life was good, and so was the music. I had been salivating for more Lorde after becoming obsessed with her debut in 2016 (late bloomer). The first song on the album, “Green Light” scratched said itch and more. Dramatic piano leads us in as Lorde describes the separation between her and her former lover. The pre-chorus is a lush synth landscape with a jaunty jig of a beat as Lorde hisses her vocals on the new clarity she has been granted on the other side of this relationship. The chorus explodes into a drum beat laden symphony with hip hop influence which would feel at home on her previous album. On the verses the instrumentation is primarily piano while Lorde’s vocals sizzle rather than shout. Here her intimacy is on display, while the chorus details waiting for freedom in the form of a green light to go. “Sober” is a trip hop based ditty, it deals with the rush of a relationship but the sobering feeling after the honeymoon phase. In this song, Lorde reflects on the various rushes in her life and worries what she will do when the buzz dies. “Homemade Dynamite” rides the same high as “Sober.” This track is about partying, making your own bangers and meeting new people. It’s a glitchy party rock affair, which never strays too far into early Kesha territory. “The Louvre” is an acoustic based song about the early part of a relationship. When the minutes seem to stretch on as you wait for a reply to your text and when it comes in, you question the commas and periods used. Lorde’s idealized vision of the future relationship sees the couple as picture perfect enough to be featured in the titular French museum (down the back, but who cares, still the Louvre.) One of the few songs on the album which drags for me, “Liability” outlines Lorde’s flaws and how men can’t see themselves with her. The reprise works better later on, but maybe we needed this to get said better version. For some reason… the vinyl version of this album splits up the next double song. “Hard Feelings/Loveless” is the heart and soul of the entire album. Lorde grows up a bit here. She learns about self care, regrets her insecurity, and recognizes the amorphous problems love presents in all their complexity. At the end of the song, Lorde acknowledges she cannot be done with the relationship all at once, but rather has to make her peace with smaller pieces one by one until she’s alone. “Loveless” as the start of Side B takes on the sinister side of grieving over a relationship. Where the preceding song was sentimental and intimate, this song is a threat and lamentation to modern love. In both tracks, the music seems to disassemble itself at the end of the track, this signifies the uncoupling of the lovers. “Sober II (Melodrama)” is Lorde deconstructing the narrative and breaking the sonic fourth wall accompanied by a beautiful string arrangement. Here she says, this is a lot, but what did you expect from an album called Melodrama? Where the party raged earlier we are now cleaning up the mess, doing the hard work. The only other drag of a song on the album is “Writer In The Dark.” Lorde repeats her earlier sentiments here, we know she is a writer, and we know her lover should regret it because now he’s on blast in a no. 1 album. I have listened to emo music for over twenty years. I’ve heard every croaking sad boy lament a relationship. I have never been as devastated by a break up song as “Supercut.” When my partner and I broke up, I stayed in the house for a month while I made my arrangements to move. During this time, we became friends and had fun together, something we couldn’t do as a couple. This flooded me with feelings of nostalgia for when our lives were simpler. Moments passed by in my periphery and I would smile, actually goddamn smile for the first time in months. At the point of recognition though my brain would realize what I was losing and the tears would begin to form. “Supercut” is a piano and electronic beat driven masterpiece. The glitchy and truncated nature of of the beats symbolizes the smattering of memories blending together into a highlight reel with no real editing. The song fades out with Lorde’s voice seeming to drown in memory as she tells herself she did everything right… in her head. “Liability (Reprise)” wraps up the album’s narrative. Lorde may be a liability, but she knows what she offers, and her partner seems to not know his own good. Maybe the relationship was the party, and not the binges afterwards, but maybe they were doing it wrong. In the end she leaves us with the final word of her resolve “leave.” Perfect Places” is the epilogue of the album. We find Lorde ready to explore the world again, but on her own terms. She’ll continue to search for happy moments, at any cost.
Must Listen To: Hard Feelings/Loveless
“Three years, loved you every single day
Made me weak, it was real for me, yeah, real for me
Now I’ll fake it every single day
’Til I don’t need fantasy, ’til I feel you leave
But I still remember everything
How we’d drift buying groceries, how you’d dance for me
I’ll start letting go of little things
’Til I’m so far away from you, far away from you, yeah”
