Lorde "Melodrama" Album Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4.5/5

If there was any large artist who had a lot of pressure to make another good album, it's Lorde. This indie pop artist made it big in the scene with her smash hit "Royals". She was only 17 at the time, making her the youngest solo artist to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1987. That's insane to think about. Her debut album "Pure Heroine" only served to increase her popularity as the album received widespread critical acclaim and hit number one selling for its first week in a lot of countries. I loved Lorde's debut. It had many highlights such as "Team", "Ribs", and "Buzzcut Season". So Lorde certainly had a lot to live up to. Her second studio album "Melodrama" just came out a few weeks ago, and the reaction it's having is somehow even bigger than her debut. The critical acclaim is higher, and it seems like this album is already being declared a modern pop classic. Is that a fair evaluation? Oh, yes, it absolutely is.

I have to first say how refreshing this album is in a musical landscape where the billboard Hot 100 is a complete wasteland. Hardly anything redeemable ever appears on it, with the same things being done over and over. Pop albums seem to enjoy being super minimalist, using absolutely basic trap beats, repetitive choruses, predictable beat drops, and droning vocals. Thank goodness that Lorde does the complete opposite and makes an album that sounds alive and huge in all the right ways. We get that sense immediately with the awesome single "Green Light", which is a highlight in a release with many highlights. This track establishes the concept of the album: the whole thing takes place at a party where Lorde and her ex are both present. This song deserved to be number 1 on the Hot 100 for a long time. It's upbeat, catchy fun, and danceable. The lyrics are also incredibly complex, as Lorde says she's waiting for a green light, meaning she's waiting to move on from this recent breakup she had. Everything about this song works so well. "Sober" is a highly intriguing track in its own right, establishing the idea of ribbons being tied around Lorde, which symbolize that she is tied to the bitterness she has because of this breakup. This track also contrasts romanticized ideas about the party life ("We're the Kings and Queens of the weekend") with lyrics that take a hard look at reality ("But what will we do when we're sober?"). Lorde acknowledges the party life is glamorous, but it's only temporary, and reality has to come in at some point. This is some much needed commentary that is very mature. This song musically is excellent as well, starting out with bare-bones pop beats and then unexpectedly shifting into having some huge brass instrumentation. The chorus is so odd-sounding (a common trend on this album), but it somehow gets immediately stuck in your head.

"Homemade Dynamite" is one of the most fun sounding songs I've heard all year, especially in the chorus which is just so freaking catchy and interesting. This song brings in the idea that Lorde is also in fault for the break-up, not just her ex. She acknowledges, albeit sarcastically in the lyrics: "I'll give you my best side, tell you all my best lies/Yeah, awesome right?". Lorde has met someone else who she might be attracted to, so she makes a perfect fabrication of herself. The stuttering of dynamite gives an auditory image of dynamite about ready to blow up. It also cleverly shows how Lorde and this guy she just met are going to have an "explosive" good time because they make it that way. "The Louvre" is one of my absolute favorites, because much like the location its named after, this song feels huge and extravagant. This also introduces a new side of Lorde: the side of her that is psychopathically obsessed with her ex, and to a greater extent, relationships. This is where the theme of melodrama really comes to play, as a lot of things in this song feel clearly exaggerated: "But we’re the greatest/They’ll hang us in the Louvre/Down the back, but who cares—still the Louvre". It's absolutely crazy to think that any relationship would be memorialized in the Louvre, and I think Lorde realizes that. But for all the craziness of the exaggerated relationship, this song also has Lorde recognizing that her songs have impact: "Broadcast the boom,boom,boom,boom/And make 'em all dance to it". The "boom" refers to the beating of Lorde's heart, symbolizing that she broadcasts her heart/emotions to her audience and they can feel the emotion emanating from her music. I love this idea. Plus, the ending to this song has some beautiful acoustic guitars, which only serves to make it even better.

Right after this highly romantic song (in every sense of the word), we get what is the most raw track on the album in "Liability". This song is no easy listen, as it represents just how Lorde literally amplifies her heart for everyone. The track immediately draws you in with compelling lyricism: "Baby really hurt me, crying in the taxi/He don't wanna know me/Says he made the big mistake of dancing in my storm/Says it was poison". This is Lorde at her lowest, her most vulnerable. The rawness in her singing is palpable and heartwrenching. Lorde seems to think that she's a burden to everyone because of what she does- her fame is not easy for others to deal with or understand. It's only logical for this song to move in to "Hard Feelings/Loveless", a 6-minute epic. The two segments of this song are both great in their own right. I think I enjoy "Hard Feelings" a little more, especially with its gospel-like feel. It finds Lorde reflecting on the good times she had with her ex, and what she has to do now that he's not in her life anymore: "I light all the candles/Cut flowers for all my rooms/I care for myself the way I used to care about you". Lorde makes it clear that all of this relationship was felt very heavily by her, so the aftermath of the breakup is equally heavy. "Loveless" is a genius second part, feeling like a completely different side of the coin. Whereas "Hard Feelings" felt extravagant and had a lot of interesting visual imagery, "Loveless" has Lorde robotically chanting about how millennials are "Generation Loveless", playing off the idea that this generation feels like it is hard to find real love.

I actually think I enjoy "Sober II (Melodrama)" more than its first part. The strings sound beautiful and really reflect the vibe I get from the album artwork. At this point, all the glamor of the party is over, and now reality has set in. All that remains is broken champagne glasses and dimmed lights. This song fully acknowledges how the party life is melodramatic: it has ecstatic highs, but it also has incredible lows in the aftermath. Lorde questions why she would possibly want to have this life, and she doesn't seem to have an answer. There's also some clever allusions to "Romeo and Juliet", which is also about a melodramatic love affair. The album then goes to what is certainly my favorite song from Lorde, "Writer in the Dark". This song is creepy, beautiful, sad, and satirical all at the same time. Lorde shows some intelligent self-awareness in this song addressed to her ex, as she says menacingly over a piano "Bet you rue the day you kissed a writer in the dark". It's interesting that Lorde shows how she's fully aware that her ex probably hates getting this type of exposure, but because the relationship was such a big part of Lorde's life, of course she's going to write about it. The song also has some dark satire in it as Lorde creepily sings in the chorus "I'll love you 'til you call the cops on me". There is something unsettling in the fact that Lorde is stalking her lover, but it's also hilarious because it's clear to me that this song is making fun of other over-the-top relationship centered songs. This song is excellent musically as well, with the beautiful piano and Lorde's voice reaching incredible highs and lows. "Supercut" has Lorde compiling all the best moments of her relationship with her ex into one supercut and trying to make them an accurate representation. But she realizes that she's really just trying to romanticize her relationship; these moments do not ring true for their whole time together. This song is joyously upbeat, which only makes it shine more. "Liability (Reprise)" offers satisfying closure where Lorde finally realizes that she's maybe not as much a burden as she thinks, because people can take her stories and emotions and be impacted by them.

The only track on this album I'm not really liking is the closing song "Perfect Places". I enjoy its upbeat nature, but lyrically it feels like it's trying too hard to be a song for Lorde's generation. It shows how the party life may actually be perfect in its imperfections. This is not a satisfying conclusion to the album, especially as Lorde asks what perfect places actually are. This song felt too contradictory, which I'm sure was its purpose, but I just didn't like the way it was delivered. Still, what more can be said about "Melodrama" besides that it's a masterpiece? Lorde has delivered the most refreshing pop album of the 2010's, something that is accessible while being uniquely odd, has memorable lyrical moments, and is full of incredible musical composition. I think even people who don't normally like pop would enjoy this album; I absolutely recommend it!

Favorite Songs: "Writer in the Dark", "Liability"/"Liability (Reprise)", "Green Light", "Sober II (Melodrama)", "Hard Feelings/Loveless, "The Louvre"
Least Favorite Songs: "Perfect Places"