LogFAQs > #893925180

and since everyone probably knows what #1 is, fuck it. let's end this thing!

1. Lorde - Melodrama
Key Track: Writer in the Dark (

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82n1rp1WYrQ)

What does album of the year mean anyway? Is it the one that connected with you on the deepest level? That defined your experiences of 2017 thematically? That you feel was the most objectively well crafted?

Could be. And Melodrama ticks all of those boxes. But to name anything other than this as my album of the year would be ridiculous for one simple reason: I listened to this thing endlessly. Seriously. I'm not sure what my second most frequently played 2017 album was (DAMN, maybe?), but I think I spun this twice as much. It was my favourite album of the year back in July, before my relationship with my girlfriend fell apart, and that only cemented its significance to me. I listened to it tonight and it's lost absolutely none of its magic.

Pure Heroine was hard to fault as an album by a suburban sixteen-year old about being a suburban sixteen-year old. I was a suburban sixteen-year old once too, and it struck a wistful chord in me - I liked it at the time, and I still do. But its limitations were so obvious that it felt clear what Lorde had to do next to fulfil her potential. She had to grow up a bit, she had to talk about something deeper while keeping her incisive wit, and she had to expand Pure Heroine's gamechanging yet one-note sound in all directions and colours without losing what made it stand out in the first place. That was all pretty clear in my mind. But it's so rare that artists actually do what I want them to!

Melodrama is the album I would have dreamed Lorde would make, so much so that it's actually kind of stunning. Lorde somehow manages to maintain her laconic charisma while diving deep into her darkest emotions. The lyrics capture the sensory overload of young heartbreak astoundingly. The production and arrangements are varied, perfectly tuned and deeply satisfying. The songwriting here is just ridiculously good - even the weaker songs here would rank among the very best on Pure Heroine. And the album is utterly perfectly paced and compiled; it has a barn-burning opener, a first half full of great singles, a powerful centrepiece, a literally note-perfect second half complete with thematic and sonic callbacks to early tracks, and a, well, perfect closer.

I could talk about Melodrama for years - the sound of it, the endlessly quotable lyrics, the astonishing quality of its every aspect. I have no idea if Lorde will ever top this album. The fact that I'm even entertaining the prospect that she might is frightening. But that's for another list. I can rationalize however I want why my album of the year is a pop album written by a near-teenager. But ultimately, Melodrama is my album of the year because it's the best album of the year. And it's not even really that close.
---

And if you don't know, now you know.