MELODRAMA, Ya Ya Ya

 

MELODRAMA

By Lorde

(Released 2017, Republic Records)

✮✮✮✮✮

 

Praised by the late David Bowie as "the Future of Music," Lorde has become one of the most underrated and talented musicians of this generation overnight, particularly when her sleeper hit "Royals" won the coveted Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Even though she shies away from the public eye, Lorde has become a pop culture icon, famously caricatured by Randy Marsh on South Park and inexplicably as part of Taylor Swift's Girl Power Posse. 🤔 She's certainly a mystery wrapped in enigma. 

Wise beyond her years, the 20-year-old songwriter's music is already synonymous with the Hunger Games franchise, which adds tremendously to her fanbase. Three years after her Grammy-winning debut Pop album, Pure Heroine, Lorde is back, this time bringing the Melodrama.

Due to a major misstep in lead single choice, the album's initial reception hasn't been great. That's because "Green Light" comes off as less of a poignant commentary on mindless overproduced pop music... and more of just another overproduced pop song itself. 🙄🙄 Will this be Jewel's notorious "sellout" album, 0304, all over again? Is T-Swift behind this?

 

Luckily, "Green Light" is the only outrageous  power pop anthem on the album. Don't get me wrong: it's not a bad song--it's just very uncharacteristic of the Lorde we know and love. Everything else is pure moody musical brilliance. My personal favorites are "Liability," "Writer in the Dark," "Sober," and "Supercut." The lyrics to "Liability" alone could totally pass as poetic verse:

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

I know that it's exciting

Running through the night, but

Every perfect summer's

Eating me alive until you're gone

Better on my own

They say, "You're a little much for me

You're a liability

You're a little much for me"

 

I can especially relate (along with a certain blond songstress) to "Writer in the Dark," about a scorned artist who gets revenge on her ex-lovers through writing. In my case, writing violent short stories and of course, inflammatory blog entries, about several of my volatile relationships has been extremely cathartic. 

 

With Melodrama, Lorde has made a seamless transition from Pure Heroine's teenage angst to twenty-something angst. The album's stripped down vocals, mature lyrics, and heavy use of stringed instruments and piano makes it a refreshing departure from current pop trends. Cannot wait to see Lorde perform live in DC next year!!! 😍😍