Lorde, real name Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, has a tough act to follow–herself.
Her debut album, 2013’s Pure Heroine was an international success.
The album’s indie-rock vibe was a refreshing change from homogenized pop of singers like Ariana Grande, Katy Perry,Taylor Swift and others.
She released the album when she was only 16, and it had a freshness that’s hard to find in music these days.
But Lorde is a big star now with a big record contract, The pressure is likely on for her new album to be a commercial success.
Now 20, the singer says her new direction is all about being “sexy and a young woman now.”
“It’s like, ‘Oh, shit, I can’t be kind of sexy if I want to for a second? Everything I do has to be, like, ‘library girl’?” she said.
“That [first album] felt like a kid. This feels like a young woman. I can hear the difference,” she added.
The sound was heavily influenced by her failed relationship with James Lowe, a New Zealand photographer and long-time boyfriend.
“It was my first major heartbreak,” she said in a recent interview. “It’s not something that I really am used to writing about. It took me a while to be able to figure out how to write about that.”
“After your heart is broken, music enters you on a new level. You suddenly find yourself crying when ‘Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart’ comes on.”
Melodrama is slated for release June 16. Check out the new song below.