We’ve previously attested that Lorde’s Melodrama is one of the finest albums of the year, one that doesn’t have a great need for any changes. Still, Lorde apparently didn’t feel like she was entirely done discovering what these songs were when the album dropped: She just released six videos filmed at Electric Lady studio (where Melodrama was actually recorded), in which she, producer Jack Antonoff, and other musicians performed intimate and striking new versions of songs from the record.
Gone is the pop-oriented production of the original studio versions, as “Sober,” “The Louvre,” “Homemade Dynamite,” “Hard Feelings/Loveless,” “Supercut,” and “Writer in the Dark” have all be reinterpreted with arrangements more based in traditional instruments, like guitars, pianos, and strings. Lorde would argue, though, that this is less of a reinterpretation and more of a return to the songs’ roots, saying in an interview video (above) accompanying the performances:
“It made so much sense to me to come here and do a session and unpack these songs from Melodrama. I don’t really do acoustic sessions or anything, but with this record, it had roots in acoustic instruments, in live musicianship. […] I really felt like the songs deserved to be pulled apart in a lot of ways.”
Watch all of the performance videos below, and revisit our glowing review of Melodrama here.
