Lorde's Melodrama: A review

Melodrama is without a doubt a work of art. Lorde shows us her talent and proves that despite her age, the wisdom and maturity projected through her music is authentic and raw. She is able to see past her current situation and view it from a new perspective that is refreshing, captivating, emotional, and also manages to make you dance. Lorde has truly proven her strength as a musician with Melodrama.

Every carefully crafted work of art makes you want to close your eyes and drive into the night. You want to blast the album in the car with your best friends and hear it rip the speakers as you sing, or rather scream, along to the lyrics carelessly, soaking up every word, every emotion, shedding all your anxieties and ignoring all your inhibitions.

Her first album, Pure Heroine, was from the perspective of an obscured and outlandish young girl. Her voice and lyrics were like a jagged piece of glass, dangerous yet entrancing. She went against what people thought of her. She would not be confined or defined by anyone or anything. She refused the ideologies of a stereotypical pop star. Yes, “Royals” was a chart-topper, but that did not make her a sell-out. With Melodrama however, Lorde is no longer our anti-pop princess but rather a Lyrical queen whose music transcends a genre. She remains defiant and proud, but that feeling is refined and mature now.

Melodrama is not as somber as Pure Heroine; it does not carry the same feeling of yearning for what could be. Do not be mistaken, Lorde is still young and learning from her mistakes, but now there is a sensation of growth. She is coming into her own. This album is here; it is now, in the present. Lorde is free and she is living, but there is still a lingering anticipation for what will come. This time, it is hopeful. Her present-tense pain was evident in Pure Heroine, now it is in the past, a memory that is remembered, but not dwelled on. Lorde knows who she is now. The most prevalent example of her maturity on this album is the unmistakable use of the word “f*ck” in “Perfect Places.” She is no longer whispering her curses; you can hear them multiple times and clear as day.

It has been almost one month since Lorde blessed our ears with the musical masterpiece that is Melodrama, so I thought it was only fair that I did a review of the album RENEF style. What exactly does that mean? It means that I did the one craft I love most: collages. I made a different collage for each song that depicts how that song makes me feel or what colors and expressions I associate with that song. The most compelling thing about this album is that every song evokes a different emotional response in every person who listens yet we can all relate in some way to each other.

1. Green Light

The first track you hear was already released as a single so it really helps you ease into the rest of the album. Green light is like seeing someone you feel safe enough to talk to at a party filled with strangers or in this case a song you can sing and dance to without knowing anything else on the album. She is fun and upbeat and makes you feel comfortable enough to go and meet other people (or songs). Green Light is about feeling liberated and ready to take on the world. You are just waiting for your chance your “green light” to go ahead and conquer it all. In this case, Lorde is talking about an ex and how he is a liar and couldn’t handle a valiant woman such as herself. Her heart is broken and this was hard for her to “let go” of, but now she is living it up without him and calling the shots on her own terms.

Favorite verse(s):

“I whisper things the city sings them back to you”

2. Sober

The way I see it, Melodrama revolves around one enormous break-up and all the songs are telling the story of Lorde’s emotions as she tries to get over this relationship. Whether or not that is true however, I will never know. I feel like “Sober” follows “Green Light” because it is telling the story of her heartbreak and how she is going out and trying to forget her emotions. Sober has lyrics that should be making me cry, but the irresistible beat makes me want to dance uncontrollably. Leave it to Lorde to make a sad song happy yet still sad. I guess you could say this song is bittersweet, but when I think of bittersweet I think of lemonade and this song is more of a dancing in the living room with a Swedish fish sprinkled Cherry millennial in one hand and a slice of pepperoni pizza in the other. I just want to get up and dance every time I hear this song

Favorite verse(s):

“Oh God I’m clean out of air in my lungs its all gone.

Played it so nonchalant its time we danced with the truth.

Moved along with the truth.”

3. Homemade Dynamite

The first time I heard Homemade Dynamite I immediately jumped up on my bed and started dancing. I rarely ever do that anymore. Unless I hear some amazing news or well, that's it, I do not jump on my bed. For some reason almost as if it was a natural instinct, my body, on its own, jumped up on the bed and started dancing. Homemade Dynamite is one of those songs. It is one that that makes you impulsively dance and you don't even realize you are dancing until the very end. It evokes that feeling of being reckless with your best friends and not having a care in the world. I feel free and alive and I also want to punch a wall for fun. I know this song is about meeting a stranger and having a crazy night with them, but it doesn't feel that way to me. That is what I love about Lorde's music, you don't have to relate directly to the song the way it was intended, you relate in your own way.

Favorite verse(s):

"Don't know you super well

But I think that you might be the same as me

Behave abnormally"

4. The Louvre

The Louvre is a song that I feel would belong in the soundtrack of a film about two lovers in Paris. Its a song about summer love and a romance that seems endless and frozen in time. I can't relate, but I wish I did. They way I felt the first time I heard it was as if Lorde was speaking to me and telling me that I am a piece of art. I know it sounds strange, but this song spoke to me as a song of empowerment. Again, each song carries a different kind of message to every person so it comes as no surprise that I felt that way.

Favorite verse(s):

"I am your sweetheart psychopathic crush Drink up your movements, still I can't get enough"

5. Liability

This is probably one of my favorite songs off the album. I could feel despair and anguish she felt. I knew this feeling. One that was indescribable yet had been so unquestionably depicted by Lorde. I felt every emotion. The rejection, the suffering, and the feeling of being undesired and too intense for people to handle. I felt it all, a medley of emotions I could never chronicle as well as "Liability."

Favorite verse(s):

"The truth is I am a toy that people enjoy 'Til all of the tricks don't work anymore And then they are bored of me"

6. Hard Feeling / Loveless

Hard feelings:

The first part of this song is reminiscent of a lost flame in a relationship. Lorde is looking back and basically talking to her lover through the song, asking them if they remember the time they were in love. She does and she remember even the little things.

Loveless:

This song is a reply to "Hard Feelings" Lorde is taunting her lover saying that she does not care what they do. She is still calling them and hung up on them. Lorde is playing with the idea that millennials have ruined "love." Like many songs on this album I feel that this song is subtly about knowing that you can love yourself above all.

Favorite verse(s):

"I light all the candles

Got flowers for all my rooms

I care for myself the way

I used to care about you"

"Bet you wanna rip my heart out

Bet you wanna skip my calls now

Well guess why?

I like that"

7. Sober II (Melodrama)

This song is one of my favorites off the album and TRUST me it was hard to chose a favorite! The beat its intense and dark and yet somehow makes me want to dance which at this point in the album shouldn't surprise me, but still does. I don't know how she manages it, but when there's a Lorde there's a way. Sober II is a reflection of the end of the party. She's picking up after the party and the reality of adulthood is sinking in. She is thinking about the insanity of it all. How soon everything will be a memory. Personally, I have never felt this feeling, but leave it to Lorde to let you feel what you have never felt.

Favorite verse(s):

"All the gun fights And the lime lights And the holy sick divine nights They’ll talk about us, all the lovers How we kiss and kill each other"

8. Writer In the Dark

I cried the first time I heard this song I had that tickle in my throat that I get when I an going to cry. If I had been alone the first time I heard "Writer in the Dark" I probably would have been crying all the way through to Perfect Places. Writer in the Dark is hauntingly beautiful. Lorde expresses such potent emotions yet also presents such maturity and prosperity. The song is -obviously- past tense, but the wound feels fresh. Lorde is still hurt over the end of this relationship, but she has turned it into beautiful music. The song does not directly states who the writer is, but I have a feeling that it is Lorde herself and seeing that she is a song writer it makes sense. The song is a bit melancholic, but the verse "But in our darkest hours, I stumbled on a secret powerI'll find a way to be without you, babe" is a sort of light at the end of the tunnel. She knows that she has the inner strength to overcome such a tremendous breakup.

Favorite verse(s):

"But in our darkest hours, I stumbled on a secret power

I'll find a way to be without you, babe"

9. Supercut

The song is reminiscent of a relationship that ended. A "supercut" is a compilation of all the highlights of something. That's why Lorde sings "In my head, I play a supercut of us" and "In my head I do everything right," rather then dwelling on why the relationship turned sour, she remembers the blissful moments. She's remembering a joyful time in their life together. This is a prime example of Lorde's magical ability to take bittersweet lyrics and make you want to jump up and down and do ten consecutive backflips even though you have no gymnastic ability whatsoever.

Favorite verse(s):

"Because ours are the moments I play in the dark

We were wild and fluorescent, come home to my heart, uh"

10. Liability (Reprise)

I tried to describe my emotional response to this song and I don't think anything I have to say would do it justice. There is not a word that has been created that could suffice. I honestly cannot describe this emotion. The lyrics and the melody, wow, and especially HER VOICE you can feel the ache. Its so dark yet so soft. I just love it. I wish it was longer!!

Favorite verse(s):

"But you're not what you thought you were"

11. Perfect Places

This song spoke to me in volumes. I understood exactly where Lorde was coming from. The haunting line "all of our heroes fading" stood out to me in particular not only because we have lost so many icons in the industry lately, but because I had lost someone close to me and I understood her fear of being alone to me the verse "scared to be alone" is synonymous with a fear of death. The song's true question is "What the f*ck are perfect places?" What really makes a perfect place? Are the places we deem "perfect" only perfect when you're in a moment. That emotional attachment we have to a place is what really makes it perfect. Maybe it has nothing to do with emotions and everything to do with a clouded judgement thanks to alcohol. Not to over-use the word, but this is truly perfect song to wrap up such a magnificent album. It ties everything together. Heartbreak, teenage angst, loss, fear of the unknown, anticipation for what life has in store, questioning what we think is true, and of course a melody that makes melancholy magical and easier to swallow. It is all here, in one song. I want to cry and dance at the same time when I hear "Perfect Places." I want to play this on every street as I drive through and into the black of an infinite night.

Favorite verse(s):

"All of the things we're taking

'Cause we are young and we're ashamed

Send us to perfect places

All of our heroes fading

Now I can't stand to be alone"

This article was written by: Alexandra Fener

Founder of RENEF / lover of dogs / fearer of heights / watcher of films / reader of books / writer of stories / owner of many craft supplies. Some would say too many craft supplies, but we never listen to "some" anyway.