Lorde On Dialing Out And Turning Inward
It's an old music industry maxim: You have your whole life to write your first album, but only months or years to write your second. If there's anyone who knows the pressure of the sophomore record, it's Ella Yelich-O'Connor, better known as Lorde. Her 2013 debut album, Pure Heroine, sold a million copies in just five months and launched her to stardom, buoyed by the blockbuster single "Royals," two Grammys and praise from the likes of David Bowie.
With such a heady start, it's no wonder Lorde's new album, Melodrama, took another four years to make. "I would go to sleep thinking about it and I would dream about it, and I'd wake up in the morning thinking about it," she tells NPR's Michel Martin. "Its grip on me was unrelenting. I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't make something different, singular and something that I would be proud of."
Yelich-O'Connor wrote from her native New Zealand with producer Joel Little, making understated yet magnetic songs that captured both the ennui and intensity of youth. , on the other hand, was created mostly in New York City with producer Jack Antonoff, who also plays in and . With stories of heartbreak, of coming of age and of living in the spotlight, marks a new chapter for the 20-year-old singer.
