Lorde - Melodrama (2017)

have been trying to work out what I don't like about her new stuff and think I've finally figured it out.

https://i.postimg.cc/dVp69wYQ/Screen-Shot-2015-11-09-at-7-12-14-PM-thumb-png-521ae0913e2f6741ad3df0f04008c56a.png

Pretty much!

"all the music you loved when you're 16 and you now think you've grown out of you'll grow out of thinking you grew out of"

my response to this song is “what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts”

"all the music you loved when you're 16 and you now think you've grown out of you'll grow out of thinking you grew out of"

Well, pretty much my experience. Maybe she'll get there someday too

Haven't heard this new song yet, but when I saw the title it really struck me as her desperately trying to write a Lana Del Rey song.

Turns out Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo both guest on it (I didn’t even register other vox)

Phoebe Bridgers is this year's Pitbull: T/F?

Watching Lorde day drink with Seth Meyers was p funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krYT0dRihbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P103bWMdvtA

i like this one more, successfully leans into its vibe better than the other two. still suspect the album is going to be kinda dull though

It sounds just like the first one!

lorde is very bad

So far this album seems like some long-form ironic takedown of Goop or something. Does she think that qualifies as trenchant commentary?

lol

based on the influences they're attempting to tap into i should like some of this stuff but none of it is hitting for me at all. i'm not a huge lorde fan to begin w/ but i liked a handful of songs off melodrama a good deal, these tracks feel lifeless though

Same. I still hum "Homemade Dynamite" and "The Louvre."

Melodrama feeling like a miracle right now

Disagree. Pure Heroine was great too. Though I agree that the new songs are bad.

the only one of the new songs i really like is "mood ring" but they're still largely better than anything from pure heroine

Totally agree on the flatness of all three of these songs. Disappointing. Fortunately lots of other people are making good albums this year, maybe next time Lorde.

i like it

it reminds me of janet's "someone to call my lover" except more subdued, it works well

oh I got TLC's "Unpretty" from it, except even more bad

oh goodness "someone to call my lover" is so much more dynamic than this, it actually has like... a beat. even "unpretty" is more interesting texturally

oh yeah it's much more dynamic but just the lush vibe

i like some jack antonoff produced albums but i don't think of him as someone who elevates artists via his production, specifically, if that makes sense

like, jimmy jam and terry lewis, to use one example (lol), were (are) genius musicians full stop. i think even major jack antonoff defenders wouldn't hone in on his musicianship or musical ideas as what he brings to the table. reading quotes from the artists he works with, it's all about the ease and comfort he allows for in the studio, who he is as a person, it seems like he has more personal connections w/ his artists than he does musical ones. so tho i i do think the production is a problem w/ these songs, he's never really gonna blow you away in that department one way or another. i would describe a lot of his productions on a musical level as like... functional. supportive. i feel like a better, more genius musician could've done something to these songs that really would've given them some oomph. they're missing some juice to me, something i can sink my teeth into, but that's not a quality i really associate w/ jack antonoff production, even on songs/albums i love (chemtrails over the country club, lots of his taylor swift collabs)

it's interesting looking back at melodrama how much of it had co production by frank dukes, kuk harrell, malay ... even flume and t minus have co production credits. all guys who have extensive experience in rap, R&B, and pop production. i think you can really feel that element missing from these songs in a way that doesn't flatter them at all

i would love to hear "mood ring" as filtered thru t minus or flume or whoever, you might actually get something that approximates "someone to call my lover"

i think he's decent at fleshing out the visions of the artists he works with, but doesn't really bring much character of his own to the table most of the time. that usually ends up with pleasantly tasteful arrangements, with the only times his production has sounded bad to me being most of his work on reputation and a little bit of lover, but i figure he shares the blame with taylor there for some of those dreadful synth sounds, i really have no idea what they were thinking.

sometimes this approach does give really good results (his work with lana & his better work with taylor) but i don't think it's ever going to lead to more than just a more refined version of what the artists were already capable of at best?

on some of his earlier productions ("out of the woods" and a few others) you can hear his own taste come through more, sounding not too far from his solo work, but that doesn't really happen anymore

i also wanna hear that hypothetical "mood ring" remix, it could certainly have been much more exciting, but i think it succeeds on its own terms as pleasantly chill background music, unlike "solar power" which ends up deciding it wants to be anthemic way too late leaving it feeling confused & anemic overall?

sounds like Antonoff (about whose working methods I knew not at all) is like Jimmy Iovine.

antonoff is a lot more hands-on than someone like iovine though, being heavily involved in the songwriting & performance on top of the technical expertise & general guidance that someone like iovine provides

When I hear these songs in department store five years from now, I wonder if it will it be Kohl's or Nordstrom Rack?

Lyrics to this one are pretty much Aja.

Antonoff sounds a bit like Jeff Lynne.

Not feeling any of the singles tbh. Don’t hate them either but there’s something missing for me. It’s frustrating because “mood ring” is actually dangerously close to hitting hard a soft spot for 90’s nostalgia but it misses the mark.

I actually really like this one.

And for what it’s worth, Unpretty is a great song.

it's all about the ease and comfort he allows for in the studio

I believe this is called "the hang," and I assume it's why a lot of busy producers get a lot of work from pop/rock stars. It's their personality as much as their particular skills. That said, the recent Tape Op interview with Antonoff was great, he's just a nice guy and a nerd that knows a lot about making music. He's no Iovine, who has a sort of tough-love bully reputation. Jeff Lynne might indeed be a good example: like Lynne, Antonoff productions neither rock nor rock the boat, but they serve their purposes and typically suit their stars.

Re: this new Lorde stuff specifically, I could have sworn I saw a (rightfully) defensive interview with her a couple of days ago where she stressed Antonoff did everything he could to aid her vision, and that everything on the record was the way it was because she wanted it that way and he helped her get there. Compare that to someone like, sure, Jam & Lewis, where they're more clearly the creative drivers, with others hitching their respective talents to the Jam & Lewis train.

I hear Unpretty but I also hear some Natalie Imbruglia… guitar pop from the late 90’s is definitely a frame of reference in that song.

Reviews are pouring in. They’re sort or mixed.

Lazy to do a copy paste of each but here’s the thread on the popheads subreddit with links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/p7egt7/lorde_solar_power_album_reviews/

amazing flex to hire matt chamberlain and barely use him

Hahaha same thought, just found out he was involved in this.

Lynne's a musician, though, an artist in his own right -- closer to Eno. Iovine like Rubin doesn't play instruments and is known for good ears.

but antonoff is a musician and an artist in his own right

I'm not comparing Lynne and Antonoff -- I compared him to Iovine and Rubin.

wait, Robyn does a corny spoken word cameo on this?

"fallen fruit" is pretty good imo

Dancing with my girls, only having two drinks, then leaving
It's a funny thing, never thought you’d gain self control

i still find the lyrical position of this album like super obnoxious

"the path" and "solar power" resemble each other so much that it's like the album begins twice. "california" and "stoned" are the worst two songs on the record for me, the latter's "i've got nothing to say, and that's ok" attitude reflects poorly on the project

i also keep longing for any kind of textural variation in this record to give me a sense of, idk, flow, instead of what it does, which is mostly sunbathe in one spot. i even like some of the songs that are so soft they're on the verge of disappearance, "man with the axe" especially, but it's part of a suite of songs that are all super quiet and yearning

"mood ring" is actually a highlight in that context in that it suddenly reminds me of, oh yeah, nelly furtado's folklore, which i appreciate being reminded of. "oceanic feeling" strikes me as what more of this record should've sounded like, but even that's only remarkable for how loose the song structure is, getting sort of dubby and ambient at the end, but even this is like not really quite enough for me. i feel like if it just... stretched out a little further... it could almost do a john martyn "small hours" thing, but it doesn't. maybe that's the wrong angle to regard this album from, but idk, it's also stoned beach music

idk why i felt the need to weigh in on this record other than i felt like a hater and didn't want to be an uninformed hater

i still find the lyrical position of this album like super obnoxious

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson)

It's a flyspeck, but the POV shift in these lines annoys me.

there are a few good ideas on here but it's way too mellow overall and i wish it actually did anything with those ideas

like if the whole album had gone in on the balearic ambience of "oceanic feeling" instead of mostly forgettable very mellow 70s folk stuff it could have been great

Listening to the album now for the second time and while there are no particular stand out tracks (so far), it's got a pleasant vibe imo.