The Stages Of A Breakup, As Told By Lorde's Album Melodrama

I'll confess: I didn't listen to Lorde's first album, Pure Heroine, much at all. But when I heard "Green Light," the first single off her sophomore album Melodrama, I quickly became a Lorde addict. During one particularly obsessive week, I pretty much exclusively listened to "Green Light." Each time I hit play, I anticipated the song's little piano riff like I once anticipated Christmas.

So you can imagine just how excited I was for today. After four years in retreat, Ella Yelich-O'Connor's signature catchy melancholy is back with the album Melodrama.

On the surface, Melodrama's 11 songs tell the story of a house party, from the kickoff's frenetic joy to disillusionment by the dawn's light. Really, though, this party is one long extended metaphor for the beginning, middle, and end of a relationship.

The album was inspired by Lorde's first major heartbreak, but it's not a breakup album. Rather, “It’s a record about being alone. The good parts and the bad parts," as she told The New York Times.

Let's see what the wise 20-year-old can teach us about the process of growing accustomed to solitude.