460. Lorde, "Melodrama"

 


Before we get to our Feature Presentation today, let's take a brief detour because it's CHRISTMAS MUSIC SEASON BITCHES.  Now, I can listen to "Fairytale of New York" just as much as the next guy, and by that I mean until my wife yells "Can you turn that off please?" from the other room, and of course there's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which is rising up the charts AGAIN, but for a good girl-sung Christmas club banger, can I interest you in Ariana Grande's "Santa Tell Me"? It's honestly kind of a great song.

Probably my favorite Christmas song in which the singer asks Santa to help her not bang someone who's gonna ghost her.  Try it out!

OK, on to the matter at hand, which is not nearly as joyous as "Santa Tell Me."  I like Lorde.  I liked her first album quite a bit.  This one, however, just didn't work for me as well.  Like "Pure Heroine," a lot of the songs are about driving in a car and being in a bad relationship.  Sometimes, like in "Homemade Dynamite," both the car ride and the relationship are bad!

Might get your friend to drive, but he can hardly see
We'll end up painted on the road
Red and chrome
All the broken glass sparkling
I guess we're partying

I don't know, I think - fuck, I KNOW - I'm in the wrong demographic for this album.  I bet it's incredibly meaningful and powerful to, say, women in their late teens/early 20's, and I just want to acknowledge that and respect that.  It's good that not all albums are made for the middle aged male gaze!  Plus, Lorde wrote these songs mostly when she was 18 and 19 years old, an achievement that absolutely blows my mind.  

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