Melodrama Analysis- "Sober II"

When she says "we told you this was melodrama / you wanted something that we offer" i think she's talking about the album as a whole. Because the title of the album is "Melodrama" so she's saying "we" (as in she and the people who helped her make this album) told us this album was melodrama from the very beginning: it's right in the title. And if we listened to the album, it means we wanted the melodrama: we looked at the title and went "oohhh melodrama!!!" And decided to give it a listen. On another level, she could be saying the entire point of the relationship was to provide melodrama to write into songs for her fans. We wanted melodrama, she lives her life in a way that provides it. Maybe that's why she was partying so much in the first place! Thanks for the analysis, wonderful as always :)))

Side note, I cannot WAIT for you to get to Supercut and Perfect Places. I know you love a good bop and those two are total bangers. Supercut was the highlight for me when I went to her concert recently!!

Oh wow! Great connection!

English Teacher KP

Absolutely! I am loving her intentionality!

English Teacher KP

This is a great point!

English Teacher KP

I'm so glad you are enjoying it! I am really excited for the rest!

English Teacher KP

I'm loving your analysis of this album so far! I love that you mention Shakespeare and theater during this video because Melodrama has always reminded me of a Greek tragedy the way the track list is arranged - but maybe that's just the classics minor in me jumping out... 😅 So excited for you to hear the rest of the album, I feel like the last 3 songs and the liability reprise really tie everything up beautifully (plus 2 are real bops) thanks for sharing❤️

It’s interesting that you call this song theatric because usually having the same song title twice but “Pt. II” is usually a thing we see in musicals and movie soundtracks and later there’s gonna be a song called “Liability (Reprise)” which is also something you see in musical productions and soundtracks. I had never thought about this album that way, but now that you mentioned it, I can definitely see it.

I agree with your interpretation that this last line could have something to do with Hollywood and being in the public eye... I always interpreted it as Lorde speaking to her lover, maybe he wanted to be a part of that circle of famous people, and now that the relationship is falling apart in a very public and dramatic way, Lorde is like "I told you this would happen, and still you wanted something from us" I don't know, that's just how I see it :) I am also reminded of a line from her first album - "I fall apart with all my heart / and you can watch from your window". She is SO intentional with her word choice, and when you listen to a lot of her discography, you can definitely see the themes and the references all building upon each other from one album to another.

Anna

I always contrast the tone AND mood of “oh how fast the evening passes cleaning up the champagne glasses” with “I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Years Day” (from New Years Day by Taylor). They describe similar actions but to such different effect!

I just wanted to say I love this explanation!

Oooooh, I like these ideas! Thank you!

English Teacher KP

The "hangziety" in this song is too relatable!

English Teacher KP

I would never even have considered this, but it makes so much sense! OMG, thank you!

English Teacher KP

That's one thing I've really started to love about Lorde...she enjoys breaking the fourth wall! I'm obsessed!

English Teacher KP

Of course! Thank you so much for your support as always! I appreciate you!

English Teacher KP

I'm thinking that maybe the "we" in we told you this was melodrama and our only wish is melodrama could be the loveless generation that was mentioned in the previous song? since that was the last time she used the pronoun (we are loveless generation; all fucking with our lovers heads)? i don't know if that makes sense though it's just the first thing that came to my mind because its the last time she said "we". i think lorde's fourth wall breaks are so cool i love how she keeps acknolwedging that she is putting all of her innermost feelings and most private moments out for millions of people to know about and essentially commodifying them. It makes me think about how as a famous person there’s a lot of interest in your private lives and people wanting to know about your relationships etc but talking about it (whether that is through music or indirectly in interviews or something like that) makes you really vulnerable to people’s criticism. 
“we told you this was melodrama; you wanted something that we offer” to me kind of sounds like her essentially being like “you guys asked to know about all this and now I’m giving you all the details and you probably think I’m being dramatic because it’s just a breakup and you’re going to criticise me for handling it the way I do and my ex is probably going to be mad that I’m broadcasting all our intimate moments to millions of people (“bet you wanna tape my mouth shut” in loveless and the entire song writer in the dark).
 it reminds me of taylor swift saying that the public always want (especially female) musicians to be new and shiny and show new facets of themselves all the time - but not so new and unexpected that we get uncomfortable. 
and to me Lorde is kinda like “I’ll do what you want me to and let you in on my private life but I don’t care if it gets uncomfortable. This is what you wanted you don’t get to criticise me for being melodramatic” 
I guess it’s also kind of the dilemma that comes with a second album - when you write your first album you probably write a lot more freely not knowing how many people will listen and with the second one there must be this kind of looming feeling of “millions of people are going to dance to this and scream these lyrics back at you at concerts so don’t write anything that you wouldn’t want in that context. 
loved this analysis I’m so excited for the next two songs they’re one of my favourites from the album! sorry that this was so long lol

j

As long as we can hear you analysis, I don’t mind that the song didn’t record. I am amazed at how the part of “oh how fast the evening passes cleaning up the champagne glasses” shares that weird anxious uncomfortable feeling of cleaning up after a party. Or when you have to sit down and confront the things you did and said under the influence of alcohol or the high of the party. It feels like an emotional hangover. When she says “we told you this was melodrama” it feels like some sort of apology/explanation ? Like… “oh you were expecting to have fun and dance the night away but now that you’ve been listening to this album you’re starting to get in your feelings and feel sad/bad or whatever, and I told you what this was. This is a melodrama; you knew what you were getting into. I told you.” Something like that. She’s saying “see? I didn’t lie” and now we have no choice but to stay in our seats and keep watching the show.

Adorado

And it is interesting because if she considers herself the melodrama, then is that what was offered? It’s what we all wanted from her as an audience? I love your reactions and I am just as confused about why she uses the plural pronouns!

Could it be like all the people around her saying like (or even the other person in the relationship -despite it being plural- leading me to think it could be ALL her past lovers and what went wrong with everything??) or the collection of all those she has asked for advice saying like “we told you, Lorde, this was all Melodrama and it wasn’t going to work out, you just wanted what we offered?” Especially because she is asking like, “who am I” and her friends are saying “no wonder this happened, it’s all melodrama?”

The thing I love about this song is the breaking of the fourth wall, like at the end when she repeat many times "We told you this was melodrama" is like telling the audience like: "The name of this album is melodrama, what else did you expect?". Havent finished watching your reaction yet but I'm so glad you were able to post it because its my fave off the album!

This isn't my favourite track on the album but I still appreciate this one. Thanks for continuing to review/break down melodrama Kp!

So sorry this took forever to post! Patreon/Vimeo was having major issues! At any rate, I am not sure why, but OBS did not record the desktop audio which is why you can't hear the song playing. I had everything set the way I normally do, so I am assuming that I need to update OBS again. I sincerely apologize! Even though you can't hear the song, you should be able to hear my voice throughout and see the lyrics! I hope you all still enjoy the video!

English Teacher KP