Melodrama (Lorde album)

Last updated

Melodrama
Lorde - Melodrama.png
Studio album by
Lorde
Released16 June 2017 (2017-06-16)
Recorded2015–2017
Studio
Genre
Length40:59
Label
Producer
Lorde chronology
Pure Heroine
(2013)		Melodrama
(2017)		 Solar Power
(2021)
Singles from Melodrama
  1. "Green Light"
    Released: 2 March 2017
  2. "Perfect Places"
    Released: 1 June 2017
  3. "Homemade Dynamite"
    Released: 16 September 2017

Melodrama is the second studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. It was released on 16 June 2017 by Lava and Republic Records and distributed through Universal. Following the breakthrough success of her debut album Pure Heroine (2013), Lorde retreated from the spotlight, and travelled between New Zealand and the United States. Initially inspired by her disillusionment with fame, she wrote Melodrama to capture heartbreak and solitude after her first breakup.

Contents

Lorde chose Jack Antonoff as the main collaborator because she felt the need to expand her artistry from the Joel Little-produced Pure Heroine. The final product is an electropop record incorporating piano-based melodies, pulsing synthesisers and dense electronic beats. Critics viewed the album as a maximalist departure from the minimalist hip hop-influenced production of its predecessor, and considered it a loose concept album chronicling the emotions ensued from a house party. The songs "Green Light", "Perfect Places", and "Homemade Dynamite" were released as singles. Lorde promoted the album through several music festivals she headlined, and the Melodrama World Tour in 2017 and 2018.

The album was Lorde's first number one in the United States and Canada, and also peaked atop the charts in Australia and New Zealand. It received gold or platinum certifications in the said countries and the United Kingdom. Melodrama received universal acclaim from music critics who complimented its sound and Lorde's vocals and direct songwriting; it was featured on various year-end and decade-end lists. It won a New Zealand Music Award for Album of the Year, and received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in 2018. In 2020, Melodrama ranked at number 460 on Rolling Stone 's revision of their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Background and recording

Jack Antonoff (pictured) co-wrote and co-produced the majority of the album with Lorde. Antonoff in Tucson.jpg
Jack Antonoff (pictured) co-wrote and co-produced the majority of the album with Lorde.

In December 2013, Lorde announced that she had begun writing material for an upcoming second studio album. [1] The following year, she said it was in its early stages and that it was "totally different" from her debut album released earlier that year; she also said the shift in sound was due to the change in circumstances and settings of her life. [2] Later in 2014, Lionsgate announced that Lorde would curate the soundtrack for the third installment of The Hunger Games franchise, which would be followed by the release of the film's lead single "Yellow Flicker Beat" to critical acclaim. [3]

In an interview with Australia's Triple J radio network in February 2015, Joel Little, who produced Pure Heroine, said he was scheduled to join Lorde for a writing session in a recording studio the following month, [4] although a definite plan was not yet established. More than a year later, he reported that even though he had written a few songs for the album, he would not serve as an executive producer, attributing this to Lorde "trying to do something different". [5] Lorde was eventually featured on Disclosure's track "Magnets" which appears on the duo's 2015 album Caracal . [6]

In January 2016, The New Zealand Herald reported that Lorde and James Lowe, her boyfriend, had ended their three-year relationship. [7] The singer confirmed the break-up during interviews following the release of "Green Light" (2017), [8] leading to her indulging in "heavy drinking" and noticing there was an "element of escapism and exploration" in doing so. [9] Lorde eventually replied to a comment on her Instagram account in late August 2016 that she completed the writing process of Melodrama — still untitled at the time — and that she was in the production stages. [10]

The singer went on to announce the album's title on 2 March 2017. [11] She also began posting pictures of herself at Electric Lady Studios in New York City with Jack Antonoff on social media taken in and after December 2015. Further recording sessions took place at Antonoff's home studio in Brooklyn Heights, dubbed Rough Customer Studio, and Jungle City in New York City, as well as Westlake and Conway in Los Angeles. [12] The duo recorded for 18 months. [13] Melodrama was released through Universal, Lava and Republic Records on 16 June 2017. [14]

Writing and production

Lorde's tendency to draw parallels to Greek tragedies (Medea pictured) was a source of inspiration for the album's title. Medea 1.jpg
Lorde's tendency to draw parallels to Greek tragedies (Medea pictured) was a source of inspiration for the album's title.

Lorde said that during the early stages of writing content for Melodrama, she imagined writing the album from the perspective of aliens stepping outside a hermetically sealed environment for the first time, citing the 1950 science fiction short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury as an inspiration. This was a reflection of her disengagement with her early fame. She scrapped the aliens idea and decided to write about her own struggles with the early stages of adulthood. [15] Lorde also took notes from conversations with her friends and would fly multiple times between the United States and New Zealand to examine the world around her. [15] The singer also travelled by helicopter to a rental house on Waiheke Island, where she could write without distractions, [16] would continue working through "false starts, fruitless detours and stretches of inactivity" as she retreated from the public spotlight. [16]

According to The New York Times , Melodrama is about a "grapple with emotions" in the aftermath of a break-up. [16] Interviewed by the publication, Lorde says Melodrama is not simply a "breakup album" but is rather a "record about being alone", featuring both the favourable and unfavourable aspects associated with "heartbreak and solitude". [16] She did, however, call "Green Light" a traditional break-up song. [17] In an interview with Vanity Fair , Lorde said the title of the album is a "nod to the types of emotions you experience when you're 19 or 20." [17] She cites her "love of theater" and drawing parallels to Greek tragedies as inspiration for the album's title. [17] According to Lorde, she had to deal with "very serious, vivid feelings" she needed to express after experiencing her first heartbreak and moving out of her parents' home; as a result, she spent time isolated in her own house. [17]

While writing content for the album, Lorde took influence from a number of settings and tested new material by listening to demos through earphones at a diner near Columbus Circle, which she did for about four months to understand how the music would sound in everyday life. [16] The diner usually played Top 40 radio, which she said would occasionally distract her from writing, although she sometimes removed her headphones to let the songs "wash over" her. She also took inspiration from strangers' conversations, often hearing certain phrases that she would think about for hours. These phrases also illustrated a "tableau" in her thoughts. [16] In her home in New Zealand, Lorde had a wall of notes for her songs, which she used to "skim" the whole album; it allowed her to find connections to each track and "fill in their blanks". Each song was colour coded due to her sound-to-colour synesthesia; Lorde arranged the colours according to its theme and emotion. [16] In a 2021 interview with Vogue , Lorde stated that the album was also influenced by her use of the drug MDMA. [18]

Artwork

The cover artwork for Melodrama was painted by American abstract painter Sam McKinniss, with whom Lorde had communicated by email. The pair agreed to meet and started discussing a collaboration. Lorde later visited McKinniss' studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where she took a liking to a full-figure portrait of the cover photograph of Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain and a painting of Lil' Kim. Lorde asked McKinniss to create a painting with a "kind of colorful teenage restlessness and excitement and energy and potential". [19]

McKinniss and Lorde met in November 2016 at his friend's studio on the 42nd floor of Frank Gehry's 8 Spruce Street skyscraper, [20] which consisted of coloured bulbs on a lighting rig and a space with several windows. For the album shoot, Lorde wore a vintage negligee and posed for two hours. According to McKinniss, the album art is the "converging of two like minds" and "simpatico spirits". [21] The pair considered making the photography session "operatic" and pre-Raphaelite-inspired, but scrapped the idea because they were satisfied with Lorde's facial expressions on the resulting images. McKinniss made two paintings from his photographs; one featured a blue glow with a warm flush on Lorde's cheek and the other has different lighting, with "paler, sweeter" colours. [20] The unused painting was later revealed in an interview with McKinniss for Dazed . [22]

NME placed the cover on their list of the best album artworks of the 21st century so far. [23] Paste ranked it at number 11 in their year-end list for album covers, [24] and it also appeared on Billboard 's unranked list. Tatiano Cirisano, writing for the latter publication, said McKinniss "perfectly communicates the intimacy and coming-of-age storyline" of the record with its "hazy twilight hues and bedside setting". [25] Fuse also ranked the cover in their year-end list. [26] Rolling Stone ranked the artwork at number 67 on their all-time list for album covers. [27]

Music and lyrics

David Bowie - TopPop 1974 02.png
Prince (cropped).jpg
Among the album's inspirations were the deaths of David Bowie (left) and Prince (right). [28] [29]

Lorde's vocals on Melodrama have been noted for her emotional and multitrack delivery. She cites the emotional vocals of Kate Bush and Sinéad O'Connor, as well as Laurie Anderson's use of vocoder as inspiration for her vocal delivery on the album. [29] The Daily Telegraph writer Neil McCormick noted that Lorde's vocals locate "different levels of intimacy in different vocal timbres, multi-tracking her voice so that it often sounds like songs are being delivered by competing versions of herself". [30] According to NME, different personae of Lorde, ranging from the "strong, composed young woman" to the hidden "psycho", are showcased through her vocal performances on the album. [31]

Melodrama is built around Antonoff's signature production, which incorporates drums, synths, layered vocals and straightforward hooks. [32] Lorde and Antonoff met in early 2014 at a Grammy after-party and later had several "exploratory" writing sessions before Lorde hired him as the main co-writer on the album. Lorde worked on Melodrama in Antonoff's Rough Customer Studios in New York City and at her home in New Zealand. [16] The song structures on the record are traditional in construction, with piano-based melodies in contrast with the hip-hop influences on Lorde's first album. [33] The singer took a classicist approach, usually composing a melody and then trying different vocal falsettos; Lorde said that because of this, the whole album can be played in acoustic form. [16] She also cited her desire to explore a "cathartic mode" for the album. Several publications noted its maximalist pop production, a departure from the singer's signature minimalist style. [34] Melodrama has been described by critics as a pop, [35] electropop, [36] and art pop record. [37]

The album's lyrics are about heartbreak and solitude. [38] Though it has been denied by Lorde, [16] music critics have described Melodrama as a loose concept album. [39] Lorde has stated that the record has only a loose narrative; [40] it follows the framework of a single house party, and the events and moods that ensue. [41] According to the singer, the album's shift in narrative focuses on "I" in contrast with Pure Heroine's inclusion of "we" and "us". Lorde wanted to showcase contrast, going from "big and grand" to "really tiny and intimate", as well as desired to reference personal events, headlines and themes associated with the World Wide Web. [16] She drew inspiration from Paul Simon's 1986 album Graceland , describing it as "enlightenment after love lost". [42] Lorde uses numerous metaphors on Melodrama, such as the teeth of great white sharks, continuing her incorporation of teeth in her lyrics. [43]

The singer also cites the 1975, especially their song "Somebody Else", as inspiration stating: "It influenced the tones and the colors and the emotions" of the album. [44] In addition, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen, Don Henley, Tom Petty, Phil Collins and Joni Mitchell were also noted inspirations. [29]

Songs

Tracks 1–5

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
"The Louvre"
"The Louvre" is an acoustic guitar-driven electropop song with elements of indie rock and ambient music. Influenced by Frank Ocean's 2016 album Blonde , the song omits a chorus defying the traditional song structure. [29]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The album's opening track, "Green Light", features titular metaphors; reviewers interpreted the "green light" as a street signal that gives the singer permission to move into the future. [45] It was described by critics as an electropop, [46] dance-pop, [47] and post-disco song. [48] Lorde was inspired to write the track after attending a Florence and the Machine concert with Antonoff; the writing process took her 18 months to complete. [49] "Sober", which was formed using a bongo drum, was written after Lorde played a show at Coachella. The track's instrumentation also includes a tenor and baritone saxophone, a trumpet, [50] as well as the sound of a tiger's roar, which was added when Antonoff looked through samples on his computer. [51]

Lorde co-wrote "Homemade Dynamite" with Tove Lo. [52] It is the only song on which Antonoff is not credited as a songwriter or producer. [12] Lorde was inspired to write "The Louvre" after listening to Frank Ocean's 2016 album Blonde . She stated in a podcast interview with The Spinoff that she could have made a "big, easy single" but refrained from doing so because she felt it would not mean much to "simplify the journey" or "force a big chorus". [53] She said that the production process was "exciting", stating, "I can use guitars and I can get a big gnarly Flume beat and throw it under water." [54] According to Newsweek, the singer's cadence in some lines almost turns into rapping, which was compared with cross-genre music. [29] "Liability" is the first piano ballad on the album; in a profile with The Spinoff, Lorde said was inspired by the track "Higher" from Rihanna's 2016 album Anti , which she listened to when she took a taxi home from a hike. [49]

Tracks 6–11

Paul Simon in 1966.jpg
Strasbourg-1981-10-a-07 (3759068882).jpg
Lorde often listened to Paul Simon's (pictured left) 1986 album Graceland on taxis she took on her way home from parties. [29] Critics also noted Phil Collins' (pictured right) signature instrumentation on the album. [29]

The first part of the medley song "Hard Feelings/Loveless" uses a distorted synthesizer and elements of industrial, [55] noise [56] and electronica genres. [57] Antonoff said one of his proudest moments while producing the album was the placing of a "synth at the end [of the song] that sounds like metal bending". [58] The first two lines of "Loveless" were sampled from a documentary Lorde watched about Paul Simon's album Graceland. The drum solo used as the transition instrument linking "Hard Feelings" to "Loveless" was sampled from Phil Collins' 1981 song "In the Air Tonight". [49] She often listened to the soft rock music of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and Paul Simon while riding the subways in New York City and taking cab rides home from parties in Auckland. [29]

The following track, "Sober II (Melodrama)", a continuation of "Sober", details the emotions and sense of loneliness after a party is over. [59] The song was originally titled "Sober (Interlude)" before its release. [60] Lorde wrote down the main theme of "Writer in the Dark" after waking up in the middle of the night in a stranger's bed, feeling naughty and empowered while doing so. To her, it was a "cool, painful moment" on the record. [42] The singer was inspired to write "Supercut" after driving through Ponsonby Road in Auckland in a taxi listening to Simon's album Graceland. [49] Most of the song was constructed using drums, whereas "blanks" were later "filled" with piano sequences. [49] It features an interpolation of a piano riff used in "Green Light". She considered turning "Liability (Reprise)" into an a cappella track before deciding to "be sensible" and adding a backing beat. [49] "Perfect Places" was inspired after the deaths of David Bowie and Prince occurred, two musicians Lorde states were the most influential for the recording of Melodrama. [29]

Release and promotion

Lorde performing at the Osheaga Festival in 2017 RF 3006 Lorde@Arena Krists Luhaers-4 (35731259842) (cropped).jpg
Lorde performing at the Osheaga Festival in 2017

Lorde first promoted the album by posting a link to a website called imwaitingforit.com to her Twitter account on 27 February 2017. [61] The website featured a short clip of Lorde sitting in a car eating and drinking while a piano-backed track played in the background; this was followed with the dates "3.2.17 NYC" and "3.3.17 NZ" appearing onscreen. The video was titled "M" followed by seven asterisks and ending with "A", which would later be revealed as the album's name. [62] According to Fact magazine, the clip was also broadcast on New Zealand's major television channels. [63] The album was leaked online one day prior to release. [64]

On 2 March 2017, Lorde released "Green Light" as the lead single from the album. [65] The single was universally praised by critics, with many publications placing it in their year-end lists, [66] and was recognised as NME's Single of the Year. [67] It was commercially successful, earning platinum in the United States and a triple platinum certification in Australia. [68] The following week, Lorde released "Liability" as Melodrama's first promotional single. [69] She performed it alongside "Green Light" for the first time on 12 March 2017 episode of Saturday Night Live . This was her first performance in over two years, [70] and gained positive reviews from critics. [71]

Lorde released "Perfect Places" as the second single from Melodrama on 1 June 2017. [72] The following week, "Sober" was announced as the album's second promotional single. [73] At the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, Lorde performed an interpretive dance to "Homemade Dynamite", which was met with mixed reviews from critics, some of whom called it "bizarre". [74] Her decision not to sing came after she was diagnosed with influenza. [75] Following her performance, Lorde released a remix of "Homemade Dynamite" that featured guest vocals by Khalid, Post Malone and SZA as the third single from the album on 16 September 2017. [76] To further promote the album, Lorde embarked on a world tour with several opening acts; she announced the tour in June 2017. The tour began at the O2 Apollo Manchester in England on 26 September 2017 and ended on 19 October 2017 in Trondheim, Norway. [77] The Oceania leg consisted of 13 dates. Lorde played an additional 30 shows in North America, which commenced in Milwaukee on 1 March 2018 and concluded in Nashville on 15 April 2018. [78]

Commercial performance

On the US Billboard 200, Melodrama debuted at number one with first-week sales of 109,000 album-equivalent units, of which 82,000 were pure sales, becoming Lorde's first number one in the United States. [79] The album dropped to number 13 the following week. [80] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the album a gold certification, which denotes 500,000 units in consumption. [81] Melodrama was also her first number-one album in Canada, [82] where it received a platinum certification. [83] It also debuted atop the charts in Australia [84] and New Zealand, [85] receiving platinum [86] and quadruple-platinum certifications in respective countries. [87] It entered the UK Albums Chart at number five [88] and was certified gold in the United Kingdom. [89]

Critical reception

Critical response

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.7/10 [90]
Metacritic 91/100 [91]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [92]
The A.V. Club A [93]
The Daily Telegraph Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [30]
Entertainment Weekly A [94]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [95]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [96]
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [31]
Pitchfork 8.8/10 [56]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [55]
Vice B+ [97]

Upon release, Melodrama received widespread acclaim from music critics and fans. [98] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 91, based on 32 critical reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [91] AnyDecentMusic? compiled 38 reviews and gave it an average score of 8.7 out of 10. [90]

Alexis Petridis of The Guardian suggested that the record was a "cocky challenge being issued to her musical contemporaries." [95] In a perfect five-star review, NME reviewer Dan Stubbs described Melodrama as a "rudely excellent album", praising its introspection, honesty and cleverness. [31] In contrast, Carl Wilson of Slate conceded that the record was "kind of a detour" in comparison to 1970s artists such as Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. [99]

Nolan Feeney of Entertainment Weekly awarded the album an A and commended her songwriting skills, describing the album as a "puzzle that'll keep you busy long after the party is over." [94] Pitchfork writer Stacey Anderson concluded that it was "a sleek and humid pop record full of grief and hedonism, crafted with the utmost care and wisdom." [56] Sal Cinquemani of Slant echoed Anderson's judgment, describing it as "cathartic, dramatic, and everything else you could want an album titled Melodrama to be". [100] Rolling Stone 's Will Hermes lauded its production, labeling it a "tour de force." [55]

The A.V. Club writer Meagan Fredette dubbed the record as "rich and cohesive", [93] while Drowned in Sound 's Joe Goggins concluded that Lorde "[operates] at the highest artistic level yet [puts] it across as easy-access modern mainstream pop." [101] Writing for Spin , Anna Gaca quipped that Melodrama "embodies a strange, studious undoneness, the blacklight black-and-blue of a perfectionist trying to capture imperfect feelings". [102] However, the Los Angeles Times critic Mikael Wood was less positive; he critiqued the album's storyline theme but acknowledged Lorde's potency when "owning her newfound authority". [103]

Accolades

Melodrama placed second on Metacritic's list of the best-received albums of 2017, based on inclusions in mainstream publications' year-end lists. [104] The album ranked at number four on The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop mass critics' poll for 2017. [66] Metacritic ranked it the tenth album with most appearances on critics' top 10 best-of-the-decade lists, with 11 points. [105] Regarding reception from music audiences, Rolling Stone readers voted Melodrama the second most popular album of 2017, [106] while Pitchfork readers voted it the tenth greatest album of the 2010s, the highest position for a female artist's album on the list. [107] In another Pitchfork readers poll featuring the 200 best albums released between 1996 and 2021, Melodrama was ranked at number 20 on the list. [108]

The album won a New Zealand Music Award for Album of the Year, [109] and received nominations at the ARIA Music Awards [110] and the NME Awards. [111] At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in 2018, it was nominated for Album of the Year, which went to Bruno Mars' 24K Magic (2016). [112] A day before the event, Variety reported that Lorde had declined to perform at the ceremony after the Recording Academy asked her to sing with other artists in a tribute to Tom Petty. Her decision came after other nominees, who were all male, were given the opportunity to perform by themselves. [113]

Select critical rankings for Melodrama
Critic/OrganizationTime spanRankPublished
year
Consequence of Sound Year-end12017 [114]
Decade-end42019 [115]
Decade-end (Pop albums)12019 [116]
2007–2022752023 [117]
Entertainment Weekly Year-end12017 [118]
1990–2019*2020 [119]
The Independent Year-end22017 [120]
Decade-end82019 [121]
NME Year-end12017 [122]
Decade-end22019 [123]
Paste Decade-end (Pop albums)122019 [124]
All Time (Synth-pop albums)252023 [125]
All Time (Breakup albums)272019 [126]
All Time2522024 [127]
Pitchfork Year-end52017 [128]
Decade-end142019 [129]
Robert Dimery 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die *2018 [130]
Rolling Stone Year-end22017 [131]
Year-end (Pop albums)12017 [132]
Decade-end72019 [133]
All Time 4602020 [134]
Slant Year-end72017 [135]
Decade-end172019 [136]
Stereogum Year-end12017 [137]
Decade-end172019 [138]
Uncut Year-end182017 [139]
2010–2024502024 [140]
All Time3602024 [141]
Uproxx Year-end12017 [142]
Decade-end62019 [143]

Track listing

Melodrama – Standard version [12]
No.TitleLyricsMusicProducer(s)Length
1."Green Light" Ella Yelich-O'Connor
3:54
2."Sober"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
3:17
3."Homemade Dynamite"
  • Lorde
  • Lo
  • Jakob Jerlström
  • Ludvig Söderberg
  • Lorde
  • Dukes
  • Harrell [b]
3:09
4."The Louvre"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
4:31
5."Liability"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Lorde
  • Antonoff
2:52
6."Hard Feelings/Loveless"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Lorde
  • Antonoff
  • Dukes
  • Malay
6:07
7."Sober II (Melodrama)"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Lorde
  • Antonoff
  • Dukes
  • S1 [a]
  • Harrell [c]
2:58
8."Writer in the Dark"Yelich-O'Connor
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Lorde
  • Antonoff
3:36
9."Supercut"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
4:37
10."Liability (Reprise)"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Lorde
  • Antonoff
2:16
11."Perfect Places"
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
  • Yelich-O'Connor
  • Antonoff
3:41
Total length:40:59
Japanese bonus track [144]
No.TitleLyricsMusicProducer(s)Length
12."Green Light" (Chromeo remix)Yelich-O'Connor
  • Lorde
  • Antonoff
  • Little
Chromeo4:09
Total length:45:08
Spotify bonus track [d] [145]
No.TitleLyricsMusicProducer(s)Length
12."Homemade Dynamite" (Remix) (featuring Khalid, Post Malone and SZA)
  • Lorde
  • Lo
  • Jakob Jerlström
  • Ludvig Söderberg
  • Dukes
  • Lorde
  • Harrell [b]
3:34
Total length:44:33

Notes

Sample credits [12]

Personnel

Credits adapted from Jaxsta and the liner notes of Melodrama. [146] [147]

Charts

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [86] Platinum70,000‡
Canada (Music Canada) [83] Platinum80,000‡
China—164,000 [183]
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [184] Gold10,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ) [185] 4× Platinum60,000‡
Poland (ZPAV) [186] Gold10,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [187] Gold169,000 [b]
United States (RIAA) [81] Platinum248,000 [c]
Summaries
Worldwide—400,000 [190]

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

RegionDateFormatLabelCatalogue no.Ref.
Worldwide16 June 2017— [191]
CD B0026615-02 [192]
6 April 2018 Vinyl LP — [193]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Kuk Harrell is credited with vocal production on the first verse of "Green Light" only.
  2. ↑ UK sales figures for Melodrama as of August 2021 [188]
  3. ↑ US sales figures for Melodrama as of June 2021 [189]

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"Royals" is the debut single by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, included in her debut extended play (EP) The Love Club EP (2012) and debut studio album Pure Heroine (2013). Lorde wrote the song with producer Joel Little. "Royals" is a minimalist art pop and electropop song with influences of hip hop, R&B, and indie pop. The track's lyrics critique the sumptuous lifestyle presented in songs and music videos by popular musicians, making them appear like modern-day royalty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennis Court (song)</span> 2013 single by Lorde

"Tennis Court" is a song recorded by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. She co-wrote the song with Joel Little, with production handled by the latter. Universal Music Group (UMG) released the song as the second single from her debut studio album Pure Heroine (2013) in Australia and New Zealand on 7 June 2013. On the same day, the label released an extended play (EP) of the same name containing three additional tracks throughout Europe. It combines alternative pop, art pop, and downtempo music over hip hop beats, minimalist synthesisers, and an electronic pulse. Inspired by Lorde's fresh insights into the music industry, the lyrics address her newfound fame and nostalgia for Auckland.

<i>Pure Heroine</i> 2013 studio album by Lorde

Pure Heroine is the debut studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. It was released on 27 September 2013 by Universal, Lava, and Republic Records. After several unsuccessful sessions with songwriters, Lorde was paired with Joel Little by A&R representative Scott Maclachlan, who assisted with the album's production. Recording took place at Golden Age Studios in Auckland. Pure Heroine has been described as an electronica, electropop, and dream pop album with minimalist production, deep bass and programmed beats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorde discography</span>

New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde has released three studio albums, four extended plays, 12 singles and 13 music videos. At the age of 13, she was signed to Universal Music Group (UMG) and started to write music. In November 2012, when she was 16 years old, she self-released The Love Club EP via SoundCloud. It was released for sale by UMG in March 2013; a song from the EP, "Royals", topped numerous single charts internationally, including the US Billboard Hot 100. The track sold over 10 million units worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Sam McKinniss is an American abstract and figurative postmodern painter based in Brooklyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Light (Lorde song)</span> 2017 single by Lorde

"Green Light" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, released on 2 March 2017 as the lead single from her second studio album Melodrama (2017). It was written and produced by Lorde and Jack Antonoff, with additional writing by Joel Little and production assistance from Frank Dukes, and was released to radio stations by Universal. Musically, "Green Light" is an electropop, dance-pop, and post-disco song. The lyrics use a "green light" as a traffic light metaphor that gives Lorde permission to move on with her life after a breakup.

"Liability" is a song recorded by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, from her second studio album Melodrama (2017). Lorde co-wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff. It was released on 10 March 2017, by Lava and Republic Records as the album's first promotional single. It is a pop piano ballad, which is accompanied with organs and guitar strums in the background. The track's lyrics detail the consequences and scrutiny Lorde's friends received from the media as a result of her new-found fame and the effect it had on her emotional health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don't Take the Money</span> 2017 song

"Don't Take the Money" is a song recorded by American indie pop act Bleachers from their second studio album Gone Now (2017). Frontman Jack Antonoff co-wrote the song with New Zealand singer Lorde, while production was handled by Antonoff, Greg Kurstin and Vince Clarke. It was released on 30 March 2017, by RCA Records as the album's lead single. "Don't Take the Money" is a pop and synth-pop song with influences from 1980s music. According to Antonoff, the song's title is a phrase he uses frequently in a motivational context about meeting a future lover.

"Sober" is a song recorded by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, from her second studio album Melodrama (2017). Lorde co-wrote and co-produced the song with Jack Antonoff, with production assistance from Malay and vocal production from Kuk Harrell. It was released on 9 June 2017, by Republic as the album's second promotional single. "Sober" is the first of a two-track song, which is completed by "Sober II (Melodrama)". It is an electronic R&B and alternative pop song that features a tiger's roar, trumpets, brass and tenor and baritone saxophones in its production. The lyrics detail the desire to tell someone how you feel about them while wondering how it will be once the liquor wears down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homemade Dynamite</span> 2017 song by Lorde

"Homemade Dynamite" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde from her second album, Melodrama (2017). She wrote the lyrics with Tove Lo and composed the music with Lo, Jakob Jerlström, and Ludvig Söderberg, and produced it with Frank Dukes and vocal producer Kuk Harrell. Critics described "Homemade Dynamite" as a R&B and synth-pop song with vocal sound effects, reverberated percussion, a staccato hook, electronic flourishes, synthesizers, and hip hop beats. In the lyrics, Lorde talks about having a feeling of euphoria at a house party with friends.

"The Louvre" is a song recorded by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde for her second album, Melodrama (2017). She co-wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff, with additional production from Flume and Malay. "The Louvre" is an electropop song that has influences of other genres such as indie rock and ambient music. Its name derives from the Louvre, an art museum in Paris, France. The lyrics talk about Lorde's honest, lightly-manic analysis of a newly-sparked romance comparing it to a painting hung behind the quintessential works of the Louvre.

"Hard Feelings/Loveless" is a medley song recorded by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde for her second album, Melodrama (2017). She wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff, with additional production from Frank Dukes. It draws influences from genres such as industrial music and noise music, and uses a distorted synthesizer. "Loveless" includes two samples: a voice sample taken from a documentary about Paul Simon's 1986 album Graceland, and a drum solo from Phil Collins' 1981 song "In the Air Tonight". The lyrics detail the emotions of falling out of love while mocking the current generation's lengths to pretend to be unaffected by love.

"Writer in the Dark" is a song recorded by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde for her second album Melodrama (2017). She co-wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff. It is a piano ballad with sparse production and an outro. Its lyrics are Lorde's lament to an ex-lover, in which she says she will always love him but she also needs to move her life forwards. The song received acclaim from music critics, many of whom commended its songwriting. Lorde performed "Writer in the Dark" and five other songs as part of a re-imagined Vevo song series at Electric Lady Studios, and was included on the set list of her Melodrama World Tour (2017–2018).

"Supercut" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde from her second album, Melodrama (2017). Lorde co-wrote the track with Jack Antonoff, both of whom also co-produced it with Joel Little, with additional production from Frank Dukes, Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Malay. It is a synth-pop, electropop, electronic, and disco song that draws influence from other genres, such as dance, electro house, electronica and new wave music. The lyrics are about Lorde reviewing her most joyful memories from a previous relationship and realising the illusion is no longer present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perfect Places</span> 2017 single by Lorde

"Perfect Places" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. It was released on 1 June 2017 through Universal Music New Zealand as the second single, following "Green Light" (2017), from her second album, Melodrama (2017). Lorde co-wrote and co-produced the song with Jack Antonoff and Andrew Wyatt, with additional production from Frank Dukes. "Perfect Places" was described as an atmospheric electropop song that blends bass, synths and drum machine beats. In the lyrics, Lorde follows the conclusion of the "teenage party circuit" in Melodrama, wondering where her perfect places are.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melodrama World Tour</span> 2017–18 concert tour by Lorde

The Melodrama World Tour was the second concert tour by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, undertaken in support of her second studio album, Melodrama (2017). Lorde headlined several music festivals before commencing the tour, and went on to communicate frequently with stage designer Es Devlin to plan the show's design. European shows began in September 2017, followed by dates in Oceania and a solo trek through North America. Dates in other European cities soon followed along with various festival performances.

"Solar Power" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, released on 11 June 2021 as the lead single from her third studio album of the same name. The song was written and produced by Lorde and Jack Antonoff and released to radio stations by Universal. Inspired by the 1990 single "Loaded" by Scottish band Primal Scream and early 2000s music, "Solar Power" is an indie folk, psychedelia, and sunshine pop song, marking a departure from Lorde's electronic and melancholia music styles. The lyrics of the song depict summer escapism set on a beach.

<i>Solar Power</i> (album) 2021 studio album by Lorde

Solar Power is the third studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. It was released on 20 August 2021, by Universal. Inspired by the death of her retriever mix dog Pearl and visit to Antarctica in 2019, the album was written with producer Jack Antonoff to capture solipsism and summer escapism, mainly focused on Lorde's leisure time in her homeland New Zealand, simultaneously expressing her disdain for fame and celebrity culture.

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