Lorde Gives You The Green Light To Cry On New Song ‘Liability’
After making us dance up a storm with her upbeat “Green Light” video last week, Lorde is slowing things down with the second taste of Melodrama.
On Thursday (March 9), the singer shared “Liability,” a muted piano ballad cowritten with Jack Antonoff. Over a Bowie-esque melody, Lorde achingly pours her heart out, singing, “The truth is, I am a toy that people enjoy / Till all of the tricks don’t work anymore / And then they are bored of me.” This one’ll surely put you in your feelings.
In a new interview with Zane Lowe, Lorde revealed that “Liability” was inspired by crying in a cab to Rihanna’s gut punch of a ballad “Higher,” and feeling like an inconvenience to the people closest to her.
“Because of my lifestyle and what I do for work, there’s going to be a point with every single person around me where I’m gonna be attacks on them in some way,” she told Lowe. “If it is having to give up a little portion of their privacy or their life becoming more difficult or whatever. It was just this moment of sadness and I remember it so vividly.”
Lorde added that she’s “really proud” of “Liability” because of its vulnerability: “It feels so starkly truthful to me,” she said. “And I think everyone knows what that’s like, to just feel like a fucking liability.”
“Liability” and “Green Light” are both from Lorde’s forthcoming sophomore album, Melodrama, which she revealed will arrive on June 16. Before that, she’ll perform on Saturday Night Live this weekend, presumably to make us dance and cry our hearts out with these new tunes.