Four years after the release of the debut album and hit single that catapulted her to mainstream and critical acclaim - and a spot on Time's most influential teenagers in the world - New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde (Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor) has released her long-awaited sophomore album Melodrama (2017) to widespread critical acclaim. "Sober", the album's second promotional single, encapsulates the album's general 'concept' better than its breakup-theme lead single "Green Light": " a record about being alone. The good parts and the bad parts" ().
Crafted partly at album producer Jack Antonoff and his girlfriend Lena Dunham's kitchen table, the song hints at her older sonic aesthetic (sparse electropop minimalism) while reorienting the cool, distant and analytical perspective she perfected on songs like "Tennis Court". Lorde is now getting drunk and dancing uninhibitedly at house parties (the newfound abandon might have been prompted by the fame, fortune and expected breakup from her longtime boyfriend, photographer James Lowe), allowing her to lace her noted penchant for self-reflexivity (We're King and Queen of the weekend/ Ain't a pill that could touch our rush/ But what will we do when we're sober?) with some hedonism ('But my hips have missed your hips/ So, let's get to know the kicks/ Will you sway with me?/ Go astray with me?') At 16, Lorde was a teen pop sensation that was 'over' being a teen ('It's a new art form showing people how little we care'). At 20, she no longer affords the same attitude to the rituals of young adulthood: 'These are the games of the weekend/ We pretend that we just don't care/ But we care'.
The song's themes are familiar, but the production surprises by virtue of deft production techniques. Spaces of silence between the track's booming slow synths allow the interruptions of compact backing vocals to shine through, while Lorde's distinctive vocal presence is emphasized further by self-harmonies and the stacking of her vocals. Instead of soaring, the chorus doubles down on its introspection with a blast of synthetic horns, keeping the track's focus on the self-questioning that follows the party, rather than the party itself. As befitting the daughter of an award-winning poet, Lorde uses her tongue-twisting and relatively unconventional lyricism to make a song about a tried-and-tested subject matter appear to be fresh, novel and exciting.
The only disappointment in Lorde's comeback will probably lie in terms of success on the singles chart. "Green Light" only hit No. 1 on the New Zealand chart, while "Sober" lacks the big, cathartic hook it needs to match the chart success of similarly themed tracks, such as Pink's 2008 hit "Sober" or Sia's 2014 breakout hit "Chandelier".
