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Katelyn Cress

Sally Lahmon

English 1101

15 June 2018

Loveless Generation

This is a public service announcement for anyone who has ever experienced

devastating heartbreak: Lorde’s “Hard Feelings/Loveless” has got all of your tender,

bitter, intense, and wistful feelings covered in this impassioned song. For those of you

who have yet to experience the woes of loss, Lorde allows you to ride in the passenger

seat and clutch onto the whirlwind of her emotions for six minutes and seven seconds.

“What is this tape? / This is my favorite tape” is a line from Lorde’s “Hard

Feelings/Loveless” that essentially encapsulates how I feel about this heartbreaking,

self-reflecting anthem. I stumbled upon this song on what I must assume was pure fate

and was emphatically carried away by this emotive track off of Lorde’s sophomore

album Melodrama. I happened to be at a confounded, melodramatic point in my life

when I popped this vinyl record in and this song demanded that I feel its every word. An

incomparable song should consist of lyrics that illuminate the world around them, shine

in storytelling, and have an enthralling composition. Lorde’s rough, but delicate voice is

able to capture the feelings of hopelessness, heartbreak, and bitterness through

expressive, lyrical storytelling and a captivating composition.

One of the single most alluring elements of any song are the lyrics. Lyrics can be

magnetizing, almost hypnotic, with the desirable amount of lyrical wordplay and passion

infused in them. While it can be easy for some to be carried away by a catchy beat, the
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compassion and care an artist puts into arranging flawless lyrics is worth recognizing.

Lorde’s “Hard Feelings/Loveless” oozes emotion and the lyrics are dripping with

heartfelt sentiment. Lorde exposes the bewildering and spiraling emotions that come

after a lost love in a self-reflecting, reminiscent style. Lyrics do not always have to be a

performance or a fusion of intellectual sounding words. Sometimes the most genuine

lyrics are the most raw, uncomplicated ones. Lorde vulnerably conveys this when she

reminisces, “I’ll start letting go of little things / Till I’m so far away from you”. The entirety

of a love song does not need to endlessly whirl around the heartbreak or intense

feelings of love; self-acceptance, regret, bitterness, and hopelessness are all

sentiments of loss. It is refreshing to hear someone show love and consideration toward

themself rather than their ex-lover for the duration of the song. Lorde flirts with the idea

of self-love and acceptance as she expresses, “I care for myself the way I used to care

about you”. I simply cannot imagine framing an entire relationship in such a graceful

manner within six minutes and seven seconds. How does one fill every lyric with such

detail and tenderness? I am absolutely enchanted by artists who do not feel obligated to

paint themselves in a complimentary light while recounting on a past relationship.

Lorde’s sincerity as she admits, “When you’ve outgrown a lover / The whole world

knows but you” is captivating. An artist’s vulnerability is oftentimes what lures listeners

into their storytelling. Lorde gets downright vulnerable revealing, “Now I’ll fake it every

single day / Till I don’t need fantasy”. She is never reluctant to expose her own faults

and insecurities. Lorde’s blend of reminiscent, engaging, and soul-baring lyrics creates

the illusion that you are in the heart of her wild relationship.
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Lyrical transitions, melodious instruments, and sweet-sounding rhythms conspire

to assemble an enticing, original song composition. Lorde’s unique, progressive style

cleverly expresses the deep thoughtfulness and essence behind the song’s meaning.

Throughout the initial portion of the song, Lorde recounts a lingering sensation of

nostalgia and anguish, “Now we sit in your car and our love is a ghost”. The makeup of

the opening half of “Hard Feelings/Loveless” is turbulent, nearly violent at times; but is

comprised of quiet, and in a sense, peaceful instants as well. This is complimentary of

how Lorde describes her relationship. In the calm bits of the song, she is vulnerable and

surrenders powerless to her still raw, loving feelings. Lorde’s susceptibility is challenged

by the emphatic seconds of purely raging background instruments. She essentially calls

these sentiments for what they are, Hard Feelings, and lets the harsh, occasionally still

lyrics echo her impressions. The most innovative forms of art incorporate culture and

society in some noteworthy, eloquent way. Lorde is able to inventively illustrate and

represent the societal generation that she is a part of and does so in a self-reflective

and painfully self-aware style. In the subsequent portion of the song, Lorde exposes

herself; and the bitterness and immaturity that lingers following a breakup. Not to

mention, the calling out of essentially an entire, “L-O-V-E-L-E-S-S generation”. The

effervescent, lively rhythm picks up as Lorde moves on from feelings of hopelessness to

bitterness in the sweep of a beat drop. She reveals, “Bet you wanna rip my heart out /

Bet you wanna skip my calls now / Well, guess what? I like that”. Lorde tauntingly calls

out her own reckless behavior and the generation she is a part of for being a loveless

generation. While some may find Lorde’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics immature, I find her

youthful account of the fallout after the relationship to be endearing and far too
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relatable. The multilayered structure of “Hard Feelings/Loveless” along with Lorde’s

candid reflection on her own behavior and her generation is mesmerizing.

Not every track requires a pretty voice to carry listeners through the intensity of

its depth. There is something stunning about an artist’s voice matching the emotion of

the story they are telling. Lorde’s tender, at times rough, voice mirrors the emotions and

instances that she is delicately recalling. The vibrato in her voice is exaggerated

throughout moments of the song where she reflects on harsh feelings and memories. As

she moves on to describe the tender bits of the relationship, her pitch becomes softer,

emulating the thoughts she is ruminating on. Lorde’s harsh in the right moments and

tender when she needs to be vocals represent the fiery, moving lyrics that she is

conveying. While Lorde’s husky vocals may not be for everyone, they suit the heart-

rending story that she is telling.

Lorde’s whimsical storytelling effectively whisked me away into the pulse of her

world. Am I part of this loveless generation? We are not just one note or emotion; we

are complicatedly layered as individuals and Lorde brilliantly instilled that into her song.

Lorde’s “Hard Feelings/Loveless” almost makes you want to undergo heartbreak just so

you are able to experience the sweet words and fevers in which she vividly references.