Lorde’s Melodrama just dropped and thankfully, it’s everything that “Green Light” isn’t—moody, lyrically adept, sullen at times. Those worrying (like me) that it’d be chock-full of radio-ready hits and happy pop ditties can rest assured—our darker, cooler pop princess still reigns supreme in the world of alt-pop.
While lead single “Green Light” did grow on me, there’s far superior fare to dive into, and really, there’s not a bad song in the bunch. The singles (along with “Perfect Places”) bookend the album, but it’s the juicy center that provides the most meat. The best track? Sober.
“Sober” represents everything we want to hear in a quality Lorde song: confidence, weird wording, and bite-size wisdom that far surpasses her 20 years. The track starts with a tweaked out Ella Yelich-O’Connor repeating: “Night, midnight, lose my mind” before a downplayed bongo beat kicks in on the verse. She then croons: “But my hips have missed your hips, so let’s get to know the kicks / Will you sway with me? Go astray with me?” Yes, yes we goddamn will.
The chorus doesn’t get too much bigger—the beauty is in the track’s subtleties and also #datbeat. Midway through the refrain, horns explode on the scene to round it all out and give the track some color. But the lyrics and vocal delivery constantly make you want to hit repeat:
“We’re king and queen of the weekend / Ain’t a pill that could touch our rush / (but what will we do when we’re sober?) …These are the games of the weekend / we pretend that we just don’t care, but we care (but what will we do when we’re sober?)” Lorde’s sultry (but not too sultry) delivery is everything. By the time you get to the lyric, “I know this story by heart: Jack and Jill get fucked up and possessive when it get dark,” the music cuts out and all we’re left with is a breathy, vibin’ Lorde in the zone, just doing her thing. We’re dead and done.
Lorde is cementing her position as one of the best lyricists of today with a second record that’s both everything you wanted from her and a display of emotional and musical growth, a leveling up of artistry.
I’ll definitely be having strange, solo danceparties all weekend, full of the weirdest Lorde moves my limbs can muster.
Check out “Sober”:
Lorde – Sober
‘Sober’ from the album ‘Melodrama’ out June 16th – pre-order: https://Lorde.lnk.to/melodramaYT Melodrama World Tour: https://lorde.co.nz/tour FOLLOW LORDE: Website: http://lorde.co.nz/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/LordeMusic/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Lorde Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LordeMusic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/LordeMusic Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1X2Hq5T Music video by Lorde performing Sober. (C) 2017 Universal Music NZ Ltd. http://vevo.ly/73Pi3s
