Lorde, Melodrama – review: The kind of pop we need in unsettling times

The Royals singer is back with her eagerly-awaited second album
Pop outsider: Lorde is back with her brand new album
David Smyth20 May 2020

At 16, Ella Yelich-O’Connor arrived in the glittery world of chart pop as a ready-made outsider — a New Zealander with a low voice, Gothic look and piercing insights into the dreams and disappointments of teenage life.

“We’ll never be royals,” she insisted on her No 1 single, Royals, and now that she is 20 and a genuine A-lister she maintains that observer’s cynicism.

By calling her second album Melodrama she can deal in big feelings while acknowledging that they’re a bit over the top.

“I’m a little much for everyone,” she admits on Liability, a sophisticated piano ballad.

Comeback: Lorde is back with brand new album Melodrama 

With producer Jack Antonoff, who brought modern and nostalgic synth sounds to some of Taylor Swift’s 1989, she offers melodic, unusually structured synthpop with dark undertones.

On songs such as Supercut and Hard Feelings she probes at a serious break-up and an uneasy feeling that we’re all just faking our lives for Instagram. It’s the kind of pop we need in unsettling times.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in