Today (June 16), Lorde returns with Melodrama, the eagerly-awaited follow-up to her breakout 2013 debut, Pure Heroine. In the latest issue of Music Week, Alex Sayers, senior marketing manager at Virgin EMI, takes us inside Lorde’s evolution both on record and on stage, explaining why Melodrama is set to define her as one of the key artists of her generation. Here Sayers reveals more about the campaign and tells us what we can expect…
What does Melodrama represent for Lorde’s career?
“You can hear she’s come back as a young woman. Pure Heroine sounded like a young star honing her craft in her bedroom with Joel Little, the producer. This time you can hear the confidence in her. She is fundamentally a songwriter, that’s her strength from the background she has, from her mother’s influence - her mother being a poet - and her interest in many different areas of art. That’s what hooks people in. She’s come back with something that feels current, she’s talking about what her fans relate to in terms of break-ups. This album is basically just the experience of being at a house party, but said with such eloquence. I think that draws people in in such a deep way.”
Lorde is set to play Glastonbury, but she’s already done some big live performances this year. How do you feel they helped the campaign?
“The BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend was a real moment. You already notice that she’s not shy, she’s a bold, strong pop star who is owning her craft. It was great to have that in the spotlight. She did Jools Holland a couple of weeks back as well, it was the first TV look for this campaign in terms of performance and it was a full circle moment in that the first thing she did here in the UK was Royals [on Jools].”
Are you gunning for a No.1 album with this comeback?
“There’s a lot of competition out there. We’re thrilled and excited at how the album is setting up, but it is a tough game to park something at the very top with all the competition. We’re putting all the power we can behind it. Streaming is definitely going to help us move the units along, I think. The anticipation for the music can definitely be felt.”
You can watch the video for Lorde's comeback single Green Light below
FOLLOW 
