Lorde - Melodrama (2017)

i don't dislike this but it sounds pretty generic for someone considered an Event Artist (the reasons for which are beyond me)

feels like a belting singer would have served the material better

― niels, Friday, March 3, 2017 9:45 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my guy

1st person relationship songs

aka 95% of pop music in 2017

Or indeed, most pop music ever.

we need more of this https://youtu.be/8NO8h_uTkdU

the chorus is the weak part to me but the childish backing vox still end up stuck in my head so *shrug*

i agree that it sounds like it would be better for someone else's voice

I wonder what this would sound like if Selena Gomez sang it

better I think, Gomez has that plasticky generic voice that's perfect for basic pop whereas Lorde sounds like she's trying to impart profundity to everything she sings, which imo her material doesn't justify

Gomez's robotic intonation of luv-u-like-a-luv-song-bébé >>>>>>> any moment on this

One thing I think Lorde is very good at selling (both here and in the other songs of hers that I like) is youthful melodrama; the no-stakes parameters of the lyrics are being delivered as if she firmly believes they are the most important things ever uttered, which is about as perfect an encapsulation of teenage emotion as I can imagine. Obv whether that type of thing appeals to you or not is another matter entirely.

Distant xpost, but first thing I thought was Kate Bush "Big Sky." Second was Sia's "Cheap Thrills."

Anyway. Good first single.

I'll be hearing this 'ever I go, especially the lightup floor and the bedaroom

will never not be weird to me to witness grown-ass people losing their shit over the "perfect encapsulation of teenage emotion" but w/e

DJP otm

will never not be weird to me to witness grown-ass people losing their shit over the "perfect encapsulation of teenage emotion" but w/e

― Wimmels, Friday, March 3, 2017

you're right, we shouldn't read or listen to product by people under 21.

One thing I think Lorde is very good at selling (both here and in the other songs of hers that I like) is youthful melodrama; the no-stakes parameters of the lyrics are being delivered as if she firmly believes they are the most important things ever uttered, which is about as perfect an encapsulation of teenage emotion as I can imagine. Obv whether that type of thing appeals to you or not is another matter entirely.

― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP), Friday, March 3, 2017 6:46 PM (fifteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hmm I've never really got this from her; earnestness I guess, drama no

you're right, we shouldn't read or listen to product by people under 21.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, March 3, 2017 2:00 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you're right because "teenage emotion" is all people under 21 across genres ever write about

I'm not sure what distinguishes teenage emotion from adult emotion except that adults are sillier about it.

what is meant by "teenage emotion" was defined in the post, and feeling that for 4 minutes while an adult seems obviously attractive

The post was also talking about how a now 20yo's songs come across, not their subject matter, so I don't really think the attempted "teenage emotion is all young ppl write about" dig actually makes any sense.

I experience teenage emotion whenever I get a new pimple.

I also railed against crushingly boilerplate melodies as a teenager

a boilerplate, crushing that teen

you should enjoy it when boilerplate melodies are given new life.

we are running out of melodies

suits the songs narrative well tbh

Sorry I'm not getting this song... for me the appeal of her first album was how stripped down and homemade it sounded. This one sounds... I don't know... more commercial? Which is ironic because I doubt this one will make it anywhere as big as Royals. It sounds more generic, more like something you hear on the radio everydau. Way too snappy for how I wanted her to sound. Maybe the full album changes my mind but so far I'm not liking this at all.

This is great imo

---I also railed against crushingly boilerplate melodies as a teenager

Having the same opinions at 30 that you had in yr teens isn't a good thing

(There should be a "necessarily" in there but I was trying hard to not just say "Grow up", so)

i have heard this song twice and really couldn't be more satisfied. can't wait for this album.

Lorde sounds like she's trying to impart profundity to everything she sings, which imo her material doesn't justify

otm

Imago I don't like this song very much and agree it's pretty generic (except the vocals that people are hating on, which are the thing that gives it a bit of personality). But I'm going to guess that you have virtually no formal music training and minimal understanding of music theory because it's pretty insulting that you keep defaulting to phrases like "boilerplate melodies" and "my first chord progression", the way you keep reaching for this sort of pseudo-objectivity to justify yr moral high ground whenever your "actually I really love pop music and all its untapped potential" mask slips. You like lots of artists with boilerplate melodies and the rest of the stuff you rep for, even the good stuff, isn't exactly Mozart.

ok well, to be more precise in my criticisms, the pre-chorus melody being the same as the chorus melody, and this melody taking up more than half the song, is deeply cloying to me in a way that perhaps my lack of formal music training can't fully articulate, especially as it's such a simple and obvious melody that we've all heard a zillion times before

someone like carly rae jepsen or rihanna usually avoids being cloying in this manner despite also being Pop as anything. i wish i had the musicological chops to explain why

also yeah, the sonic palette of this song is really cool & engaging and i'm sorry to be all aspie about the melody when a single chord-change would probably have me loving the song ;_; you may continue piling on

You could just say it's cloying? I mean I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that.

It's not the most offensive thing in a thread where people are comparing it to Kate Bush and Katy B. Niki & The Dove feels more on point or maybe one of Florence's more recent stadium bankers but not much more than that.

For the record, I think I said I thought of Kate Bush due to a distant echo of "Big Sky," but the song doesn't really sound like Kate Bush at all. I agree it's a pretty lazy track, but not bad.

the pre-chorus melody being the same as the chorus melody

this is a good pop trick imo bc the character of the melody changes based on the arrangement behind it

i'm with the people here who don't particularly dig the stately piano melodrama of the verses; rest of it is reasonably enjoyable

lmao i just woke up and was unconscious of using the word "melodrama" into that description

I don't think this sounds anything like what's on American pop radio (that interlude about the shark's teeth!), but what do I know?

idk the beginning makes me thing i'm gonna get "wrecking ball" or something. she subverts that considerably but at the cost of making the song feel uneven. still, pretty cool & fun

Wrecking Ball is 1000 times better than this.

My fondness for this song has waned. I still like all the flailing around she does in the video though.

Wrecking Ball is 1000 times better than this.

― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Saturday, March 4, 2017 12:28 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was a description not a value judgment

someone like carly rae jepsen or rihanna usually avoids being cloying in this manner despite also being Pop as anything. i wish i had the musicological chops to explain why

often when people find themselves thinking this sort of thing about music the answer is "I like Carly Rae Jepsen or Rihanna on a persona/meme/received-opinion level and do not like Lorde on that level"

just my opinion, but lorde sucks

testing out some of these "i think ill post in the hip hop thread" ilx posting styles

insane that she went 5 years without releasing a follow-up and everyone is still anticipating this lol.

we are running out of melodies

― Sufjan Grafton, Friday, March 3, 2017 11:52 AM (yesterday)

Weren't modernist classical composers suggesting this 100 years ago?

LOL I love her pic.twitter.com/TtmpuQ2DaS

— Jimmy (@jimmyeppley) August 30, 2022

Maybe next time she wants to appreciate the local waterways, someone could take her around the Anacostia Community Boathouse.

lol

In between songs, the singer reminisced about the themes of each of her three albums, noting that Pure Heroine “was about not being a teenager,” Melodrama “was about a boy,” and Solar Power is “about the climate.”