I remember feeling as though my soul had been ripped from my chest and narcissistically thinking ‘this album has been written for me and me alone’. The truth is, this album is for anyone who’s loved, who’s hurt, who’s grieved, who’s partied, who’s danced, who’s hugged friends, who’s lost friends and who’s woken up the next day and wanted to do it all over again. And it’s probably for you.
A journey of heartbreak, ‘Liability’ tends to be the most famous tearjerker on the album, and perhaps rightly so, the piano ballad hits home with anyone who’s ever felt just a little too unlovable. For me though, ‘Hard feelings/Loveless’ is easily the most gut-wrenching song. The very first line “Please could you be tender? And I will sit close to you, let’s give it a minute before we admit that we’re through” is just so reminiscent of the reluctancy to call something quits even though it ended a long time ago - when you both know that it’s time to “let go of this endless summer afternoon” even though it kills you to do so. There’s something so quietly heartbreaking about the mutual knowledge that something can’t be saved, no matter how much you try to save it. In the middle of a national lockdown, Lorde was the best friend who got me through my heartbreak and taught me to chalk it all up to experience.
Everyone tends to talk about Melodrama primarily as a breakup album, and whilst heartbreak is at its core, it’s so much more than that. To me, this album is what would play over a montage of my teenage years. From the fluorescent nights out pictured in the electropop ‘Sober’ to the retrospective maturity narrated in ‘Supercut’, this is simply the soundtrack of growth, and it reminds us to live while we’re young.
It is a little piece of my heart
If I had the word count, I would write individual essays on every single song on this album, but I must finish with a little ode to my favourite song ever, ‘The Louvre’. A love letter to love, it captures that beautiful feeling of ecstasy when you realise you’ve fallen for someone and everything seems to be going at 100 mph. This song was written for the hopeless romantics out there, who yearn for a love so beautiful that it should be hung in The Louvre for all to see. It is a little piece of my heart, and I will hear no criticism of it.
A recapturing of adolescence, Lorde’s Melodrama buries itself in your soul the moment you listen and then refuses to leave. Lorde’s beautiful lyricism and Jack Antonoff’s groundbreaking production forces you to appreciate the good, the bad, and the melodramatic of growing up. It reminds us to appreciate the imperfection of the times and places we’ve all been in and grown out of, ultimately asking “what the fuck are perfect places anyway?”
I absolutely agree. Every single time I press play on Melodrama I go back to being 14, in the summer, sitting on a chair looking out my window listening to it for the first time. I loved it so much even before I understood it and can't wait to experience listening to Perfect Places on my 19th birthday! Beautiful article <3
I nearly wanted to cry reading this review, this is an album that means a lot to me and it's amazing to see that this is shared and by someone who can write so nicely about it