Lorde Explains Long Absence, Return to Music in New Interview
Lorde spoke with Zane Lowe on the Beats 1 radio show about her hiatus, adulthood and her new dance-pop single “Green Light” – the first song from her highly-anticipated sophomore album Melodrama. Lorde‘s debut Pure Heroine came out in 2013.
“For me it was kind of about processing what I want to say next and I knew it just couldn’t be any old thing,” said Lorde. “It had to be really special and really singular and it couldn’t sound the same as the old stuff and there was a lot of discovery that went on.”
Lorde signed to a label at age 13 and released her first album at age 16. Now at 20, Lorde said her new songs reflect her own emerging adulthood and dealing with her first big heartbreak. She moved back to New Zealand for a year after the first blush of fame. “It was good for me, I think,” she said. “It’s crazy when you are so young to be spending all your time in L.A. or New York. I think it can kind of fuck with you if you’re a kid.”
Living alone also had a profound impact on her personal development, she said. “I moved out of home and all of a sudden I was kind of figuring out who am I when I’m alone? Who am I when I’m doing things just for myself? And I feel like you can really hear that on this record. There’s definitely moments where it’s like ‘Oh, she really went there.'”
“Green Light” was the first song Lorde wrote for Melodrama. She recorded the album over an 18-month period songwriter/musician Jack Antonoff, who co-wrote the single and co-produced the album. “[Jack’s] so wonderful and totally understands me and is such a great listener,” said Lorde. “And this stuff that we’ve made I just really feel like we’ve pushed each other to make stuff that is better than anything either of us have ever done.”