Melodrama is New Zealand singer Lorde’s sophomore album, released on June 16, 2017 via Lava and Republic Records. Inspired in part by the “emotions and insights” gained after her breakup with longtime boyfriend James Lowe, Lorde calls Melodrama “a record about being alone… The good parts and the bad parts”. Lead single “Green Light” was released on March 2, 2017, following a mysterious marketing campaign culminating in a seven-second preview of the song. The second single “Liability” was released on March 9, 2017 without any publicity or promotion. The piano-driven ballad showcases a softer side of Lorde as she opens up about a more personal time in her life. Lorde whispered the album’s title to her mother in her car in 2015. The album’s cover was painted by Brooklyn artist Sam McKinniss, who was initially approached by Lorde over the rest of his work. They became friends, and Lorde eventually commissioned McKinniss for the piece. The album cover is all about her—it’s all about her album and her vision—but she caught me at a really special time for my work…we chatted a lot and I listened to some demos of some early songs, which were really great and exciting and fresh…there were some youthful, nighttime attitudes she was really chasing after and really trying to get into the songs. So what she asked me to do was to meet her [at her studio] and create a kind of colorful teenage restlessness and excitement and energy and potential—to put that into color and put it in my hands. —McKinnis in W Magazine