This is an album that declares its disillusionment from the very first track, “Tennis Court,” which opens with the line, “Don’t you think that it’s boring how people talk?”Īrriving at a moment when chart music was dominated by air horns, Auto-Tuned vocals, and four-four house beats, Pure Heroine offered a welcome antidote to the party-hearty pop of the time, relying instead on restrained, almost growled, vocals set to skeletal, programmed beats. On Pure Heroine, her 2013 debut album, the Auckland-born singer-songwriter eschews bubblegum pop and stage-school grins, and instead focuses on the realities of suburban teenage ennui. After all, Lorde works in mysterious ways.ĭuring the aughts, the teen-pop pantheon was a sea of sugary-sweet lyrics, misappropriated school uniforms, and twerking Disney stars. And “Writer In the Dark” is a spare ballad about alchemizing heartbreak into art, with a cracked soprano vocal recalling mid-career Kate Bush.Īs a sophomore effort, Melodrama is as unexpected as it is triumphant-the first indication that this is an artist uninterested in retracing her own steps. “Liability,” meanwhile, strips things back, harnessing a simple descending chord sequence and lyrics about being “too much” to devastating effect. Elsewhere on the album, “Supercut” is similarly bittersweet, retracing the happiest moments of a failed relationship with help from a driving house piano and overlaid vocals. ![]() ![]() It’s a chaotic and unexpected finale, capturing the agony and ecstasy of being newly single. The lead single, “Green Light,” begins as a piano ballad before revving into a house track-only to finally explode into a euphoric chanted chorus accompanied by drums, handclaps, bass, and strings. Most significantly, all but one of Melodrama’s 11 tracks were cowritten with Jack Antonoff, best known as Taylor Swift’s right-hand man since 2013.īut even with all those new names by her side, Lorde remains as idiosyncratic as ever on Melodrama. For Melodrama, she’d recruit such top-tier producers as Kuk Harrell, Malay, and S1. Pure Heroine had been written and produced by a two-person team consisting of Lorde and Joel Little. Lorde’s musical themes underwent a big change on Melodrama-as did her music-making process. While Pure Heroine concerned itself with the minutiae of teenage life in Auckland, Melodrama is broader in its reach, detailing heartbreak and hedonism following her first serious breakup. Four years later, she answered that question with her second album, Melodrama. ![]() Lorde’s introspective debut, 2013’s Pure Heroine, turned her into a global star-a turn of events she all but predicted: “How can I fuck with the fun again when I’m known?” she sang on “Tennis Court,” seemingly aware that her primary inspiration up to that point-namely, boredom in suburbia-would be rendered inaccessible by her imminent fame.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |