LORDE – MELODRAMA

Need the ideal break-up record for yourself or your bestie? This, from turning21-this-month Lorde should do the trick. Opener Green Light illuminates how our Kiwi princess ditched her ex, then wrote about it, Taylor Swift-style. “It wasn’t until I went through heartbreak… that I realised I have very serious, vivid feelings I needed to get out,” she insists of her second album. Gorgeous piano ballad Liability also reveals Lorde is either gender-hopping or has written an openly lesbian love song. Sample lyric: “I guess I’ll go home into the arms of the girl that I love / The only love I’ve haven’t screwed up.” The glib lyrics and sardonic sonics that made Royals such a breakout hit have been sidelined in favour of aloof hipster smugness. There’s a melancholy sense of growing up to this Melodrama. Perhaps the third album’s the charm?