-
10.0
96888
10.0 |
The Irish Times
It’s a brave, glorious pop album from a real-deal songwriter and accidental pop star – thankfully, not the other way around
Read Review
-
10.0
96938
10.0 |
NME
It’s a rudely excellent album, introspective without ever being indulgent, OTT in all the right ways, honest and brave, full of brilliant songs with lyrics to chew over for months
Read Review
-
10.0
97018
10.0 |
Pretty Much Amazing
Extraordinary and authentic, something that takes you by the hand and assures you that you can survive and thrive in the same sea of emotion
Read Review
-
10.0
97058
10.0 |
DIY
It takes the downs as cleverly and emotionally as the ups
Read Review
-
10.0
97109
10.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
You can hear Lorde replacing the passion of a failed relationship with a renewed fervor for getting lost within the songs themselves, celebrating music’s uncanny ability to make her dance again as well as rescue her from despair
Read Review
-
10.0
97140
10.0 |
A.V. Club
Lorde throws a party for all of our messy selves
Read Review
-
10.0
97225
10.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
Lorde is a perfect emotional teacher
Read Review
-
9.0
97338
9.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Melodrama is one of those records that makes a point of capturing both the giddy highs and the excruciating lows of the final stage of the transition into adulthood
Read Review
-
9.0
97097
9.0 |
The 405
Feels like a volatile house party. There are moments of utter euphoria (‘Green Light’), passionate intimacy (‘Sober’), heartbreaking quietness (‘Liability’), reflection on excess (‘Perfect Places’), and beyond
Read Review
-
9.0
96992
9.0 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
A bold and colorful magnum opus that marks an almost unbeatable personal milestone for Lorde
Read Review
-
9.0
97019
9.0 |
Loud And Quiet
Perhaps ‘Melodrama’’s biggest virtue is that despite the breakups and comedowns, the album never wallows
Read Review
-
9.0
97043
9.0 |
No Ripcord
It's about growing up and growing out of love, where the excitement of a relationship fades and what's left can't sustain itself. This album explores this segment of adulthood in all its joy, despair, confusion and revelry. And it does it with stunning introspection and musical freshness
Read Review
-
9.0
97002
9.0 |
Exclaim
Lorde is masterful at making music that digs within the deepest recesses of your heart and brings to the surface the feelings that you thought you'd forgotten about
Read Review
-
9.0
97012
9.0 |
musicOMH
As an album it is unlikely to be bettered in 2017
Read Review
-
9.0
97014
9.0 |
PopMatters
An ambitious and uncompromising pop statement suffused with intensely personal artistry
Read Review
-
9.0
96924
9.0 |
Slant Magazine
With its tales of drunken meet-cutes and messy mornings after, Melodrama is an unexpected house-party record
Read Review
-
8.9
97057
8.9 |
Gig Soup
‘Melodrama’ is essentially the telling of lovers at a party and the leaps and falls of relationships. It is a brilliantly well-crafted electro-acoustic, synth drenched exploration of the internal factory of emotion - a 21st century masterpiece
Read Review
-
8.8
96930
8.8 |
Pitchfork
A masterful study of being a young woman, a sleek and humid pop record full of grief and hedonism, crafted with the utmost care and wisdom
Read Review
-
8.5
97016
8.5 |
Under The Radar
Between rage, elation, and all of the mistakes in-between, Lorde is more self-aware than she's ever been
Read Review
-
8.5
96999
8.5 |
AU Review
Melodrama is a perfect example of what Lorde does best; she tells a story
Read Review
-
8.5
97426
8.5 |
Prefix
Cooler than cool New Zealander returns with immaculate blend of classic and contemporary pop
Read Review
-
8.3
97017
8.3 |
Consequence Of Sound
Lorde’s overreaches and missteps are just as charming as the incisive parts, so she must be an icon
Read Review
-
8.1
97130
8.1 |
Earbuddy
See review
Read Review
-
8.0
96887
8.0 |
The Independent
Fuelled by a black humour that’s almost become her trademark, there’s heartbreak and ecstasy, desire, fear, uncertainty, acting on impulse, making mistakes and (maybe) learning from them. And those are tunes we can definitely dance to
Read Review
-
8.0
97067
8.0 |
Crack
The smartest pop record of the year so far
Read Review
-
8.0
97356
8.0 |
Q
She explores the anxious ambivalence that hedonism can often intensify. Print edition only
-
8.0
97416
8.0 |
The Skinny
Melodrama is overblown sensationalism, and the sound of exposing every single thing without flinching. Every dark thought, every secret hope, every lurking fear, all soundtracked by uncompromising pop maximalism
Read Review
-
8.0
97161
8.0 |
The FT
Album lasts a trim 11 tracks, each linked by shared imagery and sung by the New Zealander with husky intensity
Read Review
-
8.0
97167
8.0 |
Spectrum Culture
Proves Lorde is the real thing
Read Review
-
8.0
97189
8.0 |
State
A punchy album buzzing with electricity and excitement, and it proves Lorde is living up to title of “the future of music” awarded to her by none other than David Bowie himself
Read Review
-
8.0
96937
8.0 |
Rolling Stone
You could tell the Auckland, New Zealand kid was in for the long haul, and, after a four-year wait, her second album, Melodrama, confirms that notion
Read Review
-
8.0
96939
8.0 |
The Guardian
Save for the odd misfire, the follow-up to multi-million selling Pure Heroine intelligently twists mainstream pop with smart lyrics and raw, affecting vocals
Read Review
-
8.0
96940
8.0 |
Evening Standard
The kind of pop we need in unsettling times
Read Review
-
8.0
96970
8.0 |
The Observer
Once your eardrums adapt to the galloping crescendos of tunes such as Supercut, however, the parameters shift. You begin to appreciate the subtleties on offer
Read Review
-
8.0
96976
8.0 |
All Music
The addition of genuine, giddy pleasure - evident on the neon pulse of "Homemade Dynamite" and "Supercut" - isn't merely a progression for Lorde, it's what gives the album multiple dimensions
Read Review
-
8.0
96989
8.0 |
The Arts Desk
The idea that she's bound for such iconic greatness, coupled with intense poetry and music built on a solid bedrock of artistry and deep thought, makes this album one for now, but also for forever
Read Review
-
8.0
97589
8.0 |
Punk News
There are no gimmicks. There’s nothing screaming for acceptance. Melodrama is a raw, real album under its sparkly clean production. One written for the masses but able to resonate with each individual listener
Read Review
-
7.5
97202
7.5 |
Paste Magazine
Where Pure Heroine was her global, future-forward debut, Melodrama is the red-eyed, no-rules afterparty, where the lost and loveless go for comfort
Read Review
-