Review: Melodrama by Lorde
Cover photo from Elle Magazine.
By Vinnie Holt
I’ve been a big fan of lorde since 2013. I loved “Royals” like everybody else, and still remember the first time I heard “Glory and Gore” in a 7th grade classroom, and the first time I listened to Pure Heroine in its entirety, on a long car ride from one end of my city to another. I fell in love with the teen’s voice, her use of harmonies, and the production value of the entire record. I thought it was so quirky, so well put together, and it became the soundtrack of my prepubescent teenage years. I was of course also into the The Hunger Games Trilogy, and Lorde did a couple of songs for those movies (“Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, and “Yellow Flicker Beat”), and I loved those too. I sat patiently and waited for new music. I thought that it would take maybe a year or so for Lorde to at least mention a new album, instead it took 4.
She never really spoke about crafting new tunes, and then a there were some mysterious social media posts. A couple of days later “Green Light” was released. Along with “Green Light” came the announcement of Lorde’s new album, Melodrama. I definitely cried at the news. After waiting patiently for years, I was finally about to get some new music from Lorde. I was feeling a very large mix of fear, anticipation, and excitement.
I grew up in a very music-loving household, and my father shaped a lot of my music taste and habits (despite the fact that he is not a fan of Lorde). He always advised me to “NEVER listen to the singles before the full album is out!”. This practice came from fear of being disappointed by the full track list, or ending up not liking the singles anymore, because they were all you listened to on repeat while waiting for that fateful day when you got to have the full record in your hands, or ears.
I just couldn’t take my father’s advice, at least not where “Green Light” was concerned. I listened to it dozens of times, and I was not disappointed. A lot of nervousness did set in for the upcoming release of the full album, and I followed my dad’s advice when it came to the next singles Lorde released, “Liability” and “Perfect Places”. I didn’t listen to those until the sixteenth day of June, when all of Melodrama was released. Melodrama did not disappoint, not in the slightest bit.
The only thing I could think of that would’ve made the record better is more songs. The production value of the whole album is fantastic. I almost cried while listening to “Homemade Dynamite”, my now favorite song on the album. Jack Antonoff of Bleachers does a fantastic job with tunes like Sober, Green Light and The Louvre. The whole record has a teenage discovery kind of feel, and definitely carries the theme of finding yourself, and caring less about how others feel about you. I love the entire album, and it is definitely going to be added into my everyday music rotation. Ella truly outdid herself.
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