https://www.hulu.com/watch/1045110
Lorde’s second single off her new album, Melodrama, is something totally new for the young pop star. “Liability” is a slow piano ballad that will hit you dead center in the middle of your heart, and she brought all of that anguish to her SNL performance of the track. The song premiered this week along with the official release date of her new album, which will be out 6/16, and it might be the best song she’s written to date.
“Liability” is a track about honoring the relationship and love that you have for yourself in the midst of everyone else around you failing, running away, or blaming you for the way things can go wrong. It’s remarkably wise and incredibly poignant — every time I hear the line “So I guess I’ll go home / Into the arms of the girl that I love / The only love I haven’t screwed up” tears well up in my eyes. She’s talking about herself here, and the way she describes that relationship is actually one of the most romantic things I’ve heard. We’d all do well to write more love songs to ourselves.
Of course, Lorde is writing here specifically about how her fame impacts her relationships, but who hasn’t felt like they were destined to be loved and left over and over again for some flaw or another? It’s a remarkably universal concept that comes from a very specific place, superseding Lorde’s personal circumstance to become accessible for everyone.
For the performance, Lorde wore a dramatic, old-fashioned wedding outfit — complete with a headdress — that’s actually a pantsuit, and sat perched next to Jack Antonoff on the piano bench. The whole outfit is very Katharine Hepburn, and somehow it works. Antonoff made a cameo in the “Green Light” video, so it’s not surprising to see him show up again. He also tweeted about the songwriting process behind the song when it came out:
https://twitter.com/jackantonoff/status/839957156388614145
https://twitter.com/jackantonoff/status/839957395954663425
She barely moves the entire performance, yet it’s impossible to look away, and this is easily one of the most emotional SNL performances in recent years. Musicians generally opt for high-energy tracks, but Lorde manages to make unraveling just as fascinating as her earlier performance of the strange, beautifully cathartic lead single “Green Light.” Watch her compelling “Liability” performance above and look for much more from Lorde in the coming weeks — June is still a ways away, and she understands the joys of fandom better than anyone.
Melodrama is out 6/16 via Universal Music New Zealand. Pre-order it here.
