Lorde drops straightforward pop single ‘Perfect Places’
Lorde dragged out the campaign for her upcoming sophomore album Melodrama quite a bit. The first single ‘Green Light’ was released in the first week of March and the week after when she performed at Saturday Night Live, the track ‘Liability’ dropped. Ever since we have been eagerly waiting for more new material and now, two weeks before the launch of the record, Lorde drops the official second single, ‘Perfect Places’. Pop perfection it is!
With ‘Green Light’, Lorde went into more in your face upbeat pop territory and ‘Perfect Places’ follows suit. This might be the most straightforward pop song she has released so far, but this is in no way saying it is generic, because it still has Lorde’s mark all over it. Her vocals are distinctive as always and lyrically ‘Perfect Places’ deals with the restlessness of young people, trying to find their ‘perfect places’. “Last summer, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone I knew or saw was searching for something – trying to transcend the news and the screaming pavements, drinking that one drink hoping it’d get them someplace higher. this song comes from that endless cycle of evenings and the violent heat of the summer”, she explained on social media. By the end of the song Lorde realizes that no drink or drug is going to be a permanent ‘perfect place’, asking herself: “What the fuck are perfect places, anyway?”
On Facebook the young New Zealand pop star explained that it took long to get the production right for this song, starting out from a piano demo. Well, with collaborator Jack Antonoff she sure did get it right. The beats, the synths, the piano and the echoing in the last chorus, it all falls into place. Melodrama is out in two weeks and is shaping up to be one of the best pop records of the year!