Melodrama by Lorde, via Republic Records

“We told you this was melodrama,” croons our Scorpio queen Lorde on the track “Sober II (Melodrama)”, and halfway through the psycho-high of the album, she brings us back down to the emotional yet beautiful mess of her world. Melodrama is a coming-of-age dance party, pity party, and celebration of self, pulsating in an electric blue of melancholy and bliss at the same time. If you weren’t a big Lorde fan after Pure Heroine, she triumphs on Melodrama, putting her immaculate suburban teen-dreams in her past and maturing into her own through pure, raw emotion that is just so damn relatable.

While “Green Light” brings you to your feet to melt all your cares away, “Liability” brings you right back down in a self-reflection of personal relationships, that every girl I’ve talked to suffers through. Lorde knows how to put that crushing feeling into words, and also colors, through her gift of sound-to-color synesthesia, where she can see different colors when different notes are played. She is able to make her music feel like it was made just for me, as someone that is also going through the same emotional turmoil that all 20-year-old girls go through (but it may also help that we are water sign sisters !!).

I can’t end this declaration of my love for Melodrama without acknowledging what I think is Lorde’s magnum opus thus far, the track “Writer in the Dark.” Her true vocal power is brought to the forefront in this stripped down ballad, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Even though it never fails to bring me to tears, they aren’t just sad, they are full of pride, and shared strength that I didn’t know I needed. Lorde gives all of us a newfound sense of strength via Melodrama, and we should all feel honored that she brought us along into her colorful little world.

Words by Kristen.

Be sure to check out Megan’s piece on the Melodrama listening party – her crazy surreal evening with Ella herself – right here on Modern Girls.