Four years after her debut effort, Pure Heroine, Lorde dropped her long-awaited sophomore work, Melodrama, on Friday. Prior to the album's release, the 20-year-old appeared on the New Zealand podcast The Spinoff to break down each one of Melodrama's 11 tracks.
When discussing "The Louvre," Lorde explained how Frank Ocean's Blonde served as an inspiration when it came to constructing the sound on that song. "In this sort of post-Blonde landscape, we can all sort of do whatever we want in terms of instrumentation," she said. "We could've just made it a big, easy single because the bonds are there. But it won't mean as much to simplify the journey, or to force a big chorus. I just want it to feel like how that [new love] feels...the big, sun-soaked dumbness of falling in love."
While Blonde was a reminder of the brilliance of Ocean's songwriting, the album was also an exploration into how great instrumentation can help lead you on the journey that the track is trying to tap into. "The Lourve" borrows from that philosophy, going through the ebb and flow of falling in love. "It’s just like this big dumb joy and it’s intense—and I feel like the instrumentation in that song kind of helped it get there," Lorde adds.
Lorde also revealed that she's already thought about the sound of her next album. "I think I know what the next record is going to sound like, but of course I have no idea," she said. "It’s gonna be really different to what I think it is right now.”
