Most people know Lorde as the weird-goth-looking-girl who sang “Royals” and likes Tennis Courts. And that she dances when she performs, but it’s like, really bad dancing. Personally, I love Lorde (Ella Yelich-O’Connor is her real name), and I have a poster of her hanging in my room at home. But even if I wasn’t a big fan of her music from the beginning, I think I would still blast her sophomore album Melodrama in the car. Specifically, I would save it for when I am driving around my hometown at night, belting out lyrics and interpretive dancing to electropop beats at stoplights. The ~vibes~ fit perfectly with any emotion I am feeling at the moment. It has everything. It is everything. This album is perfect. I cannot think of a body of work more sonically cohesive than this one. The album tells the story of a girl who had her heart broken, by a man she thought she was in love with, grow up and be comfortable with herself. Feelings of anger, pain, regret, self-hate, acceptance, self-love, moving on, and happiness are all represented on this album. Every song has such a distinct sound and represents each stage in the process of a breakup so unbelievably well, it’s hard to understand how Lorde released this album when she was only 20. Her growth is not able to be ignored from the first track “Green Light” to the last track “Perfect Places”. I could go into detail about all 11 songs, but I will save you the reading and just talk about my top 4 favorite.

“The Louvre”

The fourth song on the album focuses on how the relationship was passionate at one point, and even though Lorde could see the warning signs, she ignored them. She fell for this guy, a guy she describes as one she would typically not go for. However, she was so overcome with emotions when she would be with him that she just had to go for it. My favorite lyrics from this one are “Blow all my friendships/To sit in hell with you/But we’re the greatest/They’ll hang us in the Louvre/Down the back, but who cares?/Still the Louvre”. I absolutely LOVE the whole even-though-this-relationship-is-hell-on-earth-we-still-belong-in-a-super-well-known-art-museum-even-if-it’s-in-the-back-part-that-nobody-looks-at imagery this song creates. Personally, I have been in a relationship where I ignored all the red flags and still went for it because it was something new and exciting. I think anyone who has ever been in a relationship can relate to this one.

“Liability”

This is the fifth song on the album, and it is completely heartbreaking. It details how used Lorde felt after this relationship, and in life in general. She even talks about trying to love herself, yet she is still broken because she views herself as a “forest fire”. My heart aches every time I hear her voice singing “So they pull back, make other plans/I understand, I’m a liability/Get you wild, make you leave/I’m a little much for everyone”. Not going to lie, this song means a lot to me because I relate a little bit too much to feeling like a “liability” for those around me to deal with. But it’s not all sad! At the end of the song, Lorde sings about a better future and how she will prove everyone wrong!!! And there is a reprise of the song later on the album where she has found herself!!! Lorde performed this one on SNL when she was the musical guest with her producer, Jack Antonoff. You can FEEL the emotion and heartbreak through the screen you watch it on. Amazing.

“Hard Feelings/Loveless”

Shocking, this is the sixth track on the album. These three songs flow sooooooooo well into each other and are such a strong representation of what this album is I had to include them all in this review. This one is basically two separate songs but they are mashed together halfway to convey a sort of switch that goes off after a breakup. The first half of the song deals with the not-wanting-to-say-goodbye feelings of a breakup. Lorde can’t cope with the fact that it’s over, and she doesn’t want to leave what was once so good. She sings “‘Cause I remember the rush when forever was us/Before all the winds of regret and mistrust/Now we sit in your car and our love is a ghost/Well I guess I should go”. This overwhelming feeling of the relationship all of a sudden being over culminates with the whirling sounds throughout the beginning of this track. Suddenly, there is a shift in the song and it transitions into the “Loveless” part of the song. This second half is very cynical and points out that this whole generation is one that is “all fuckin’ with our lover’s heads” and how anything her ex will do to get back at her, she will enjoy. Great song(s).

“Supercut”

Okay here we are at the ninth song on the album. Personally, I would die for this song. If you listen to one song off of this album EVER, please let it be this oner. The song is about how no matter what Lorde does to try and forget the relationship, she gets a supercut in her head of every amazing memory that her and this guy shared together. She can’t avoid the memories, and they consume her. She forgets the horrendous parts of the relationship and this happy memory reel just plays over and over in her head. She is so caught up in it all; she can’t see where it went wrong anymore. The chorus builds up and her vocals are layered so many times that it is simply beautiful to listen to. And this song features a fade out, which is honestly rare in music today. Usually songs just cut off after the last note is sung, but after all this build up, the beat goes down to what it was in the beginning and Lorde mutters “In my head I do everything right” two more times. Then there is over a minute of the remaining beat fading out and it is lovely. This song could possibly be my favorite song ever. I have listened to it hundreds, maybe even thousands of times (okay, I’m exaggerating here), and I never get sick of it. Ever. (Not exaggerating here though)

Melodrama should have won Album of the Year over 24K Magic at the 2018 Grammys. Sorry Bruno Mars, but your album was not the soundtrack to the latter half of high school experience. Anyway, I am patiently awaiting Lorde’s third album, which has some high expectations to live up to, but I think this girl from New Zealand can top herself and create something even better.