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Lorde’s long awaited new album ‘Melodrama’ was finally released on Friday, June 16. Although everybody knew it was going to be something, no one was actually prepared for how epic it actually is.
Lorde – real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor – has been working on her new album ever since she released her acclaimed debut ‘Pure Heroine.’ But we knew nothing until January when she tweeted some insights of her new music. The singer also talked about the importance of pop in times of expressing oneself.
i truly believe in the necessity of cathartic pop records in times like these – i love the big sprawling projects too, but (cont.)
— Lorde (@lorde) January 28, 2017
there’s something about the falls & lifts of meticulous pop, moments designed for u to feel what u need to, that’s more important than ever
— Lorde (@lorde) January 28, 2017
But that’s it, she said nothing more. So we knew something was coming, but didn’t know what, when or how. That at least until March, when the 20-year-old Kiwi announced her first single in 4 years. On Friday, March 3, Lorde unveiled “Green Light,” which sounds more like a house-infused dance song than the earlier intense beats that she introduced to us earlier. But the lyrics remain the most important aspects, as she describes a failed romance with no happy ending. At least she cleared some things up: the new album was near, and someone broke her heart.
A week later, “Liability” surfaced as the first promotional single off the album. And it is completely different from “Green Light.” Seriously, the new song was a piano ballad. A heart-wrenching piano ballad, in which the artist truly exposes herself and shares how vulnerable she can get.
We didn’t hear nothing else about Lorde’s new album until earlier this month when she released “Perfect Places,” the closure song of ‘Melodrama.’ And the one with the most reminiscences of the ‘Pure Heroine’ era, concerning sound. In lyrics, it tries to evocate the recklessness from ‘Pure Heroine,’ but fails, because things are not how they used to be, they are now dark, and the future doesn’t look any brighter. While during her teenage years Lorde enjoyed dancing by herself, “Now I can’t stand to be alone,” she sings.
It took her not much longer to share previews of the album during her shows until finally releasing ‘Melodrama,’ which people are calling “the best pop album of 2017.”
‘Melodrama’ is Lorde’s true coming-of-age album
Four years ago, Lorde came out to the world with an album that shook it all up. ‘Pure Heroine’ was not “awesome for a 16-year-old girl,” it was plain amazing. In the album, Lorde talks in the name of an isolated group of angsty teenagers trapped in a generation in which pretension and appearance are all that matters. While they are bored as hell and trying to get out of the suburbs to finally get some real fun.
The concept itself is nothing new, but Lorde embraced it in a way that made us seem like she’s lived it all and is talking to us from a higher perspective. It’s a really strong album – but yet innocent and cocky, just like a teenager.
Now, for ‘Melodrama,’ the singer has really been through something all of us have been through, and not just some non-conform kids. With the passion and capability of understanding things from a deeper point of view, Lorde is now singing about a heartbreak. And not just any heartbreak, she’s singing about her first major heartbreak.
She doesn’t talk about just how some dude dumped her. She’s completely opening up and exposing herself in a more intimate way she’s ever done before. Talking about what happens after you’ve got your heart broken. We all feel sad when we see a relationship near its inevitable end, but the true, hardcore part is what comes later when you feel the void inside and you have a hard time trying to get it together and start over.
One crucial element surfaces: Lorde is not 16 anymore. She’s just walking straight into adulthood. All that cockiness and boredom she showed us earlier is gone because adulthood is damn terrifying. Here’s when the true existential crisis kicks in. The best way for Lorde to deal with it is to transform it into art.
Because that’s what ‘Melodrama’ is. In the pop record, she’s singing for the masses, the rhythms are mostly upbeat, and the melodies are catchy. But there’s so much more than catchy melodies. The girl just poured her soul into an LP and she wants us to listen to it and to feel what she experienced. And if you’re lucky enough – or unlucky, it all depends on where you’re standing from – to have ever felt like she did, you will enjoy this album and love Lorde more than you’ve ever done.
‘Melodrama’ is available in Apple Music. Or you can stream it below via Spotify.
