Lorde’s Man of the Year: A Personal Opera in Three Minutes

Lorde’s upcoming record Virgin has one track over 4 minutes and the rest under 3:30, which is unique for her. On previous records she will have sub 3:30 minute songs along tracks over 6 minutes. It is interesting seeing her go to this shorter format. Having said that, she can pack a lot of song in under 3:30. This is shaping up to be one of her most eclectic records and I am very exicted to listen to the final project in roughly a month.

The track Man of the Year comes off as a musical culmination of Lorde’s musical career, but still with room to experiment. The opening couple of verses has the laid back bass, which was so prominent on her record Solar Power. This was a record full of vibes and afternoons at the beach. However, the sharp guitar lines come in to signal the incoming darkness of Melodrama. As soon as these chords cut through the sunny haze of the first minute or so they are underlined by ominous synth, which is reminiscent of Pure Heroine. However, Lorde pushes this even further with oppressively sharp percussion and weighty, at times terrifying, discordant synth. Musically, this track spans her entire musical career and ends on some napalm syth that leaves a crater in your chest.

The way the music builds towards a tone resembling a chaotic slasher film underlines its central theme. It is the conflict between Lorde striving to open up and love herself for who she is and wanting to adhere to a superficial image that she believes will get people to love her. This is similar to previous tracks from Lorde where she explores the tension between her celebrity identity and her true self. In Man of the Year the question is who will love her if she is not the celebrity society wants her to be. She continually asks “Who’s gon’ love me like this?” while riding the wave between opening up and adhering to an image.

The two singles Man of the Year and What was That are not just musically exciting, but are both thematically rich. I personally think Melodrama is her best record and easily the record of that year. However, the musical experimentation paired with the thematic depth within Man of the Year has me very excited to see what else Virgin has in store.

Listen to Man of the Year