Liability (song)

The track's lyrics detail the consequences and scrutiny Lorde's friends received from the media as a result of her new-found fame and the effect it had on her emotional health.

Music critics praised the song's lyrical content and Lorde's vocal delivery; some noted its dramatic sonic shift from the album's lead single "Green Light" (2017), which was released a week prior.

She performed "Liability" for the first time on Saturday Night Live in New York in 2017 and subsequently at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California.

Swedish singer Tove Styrke released a cover of the song titled "Liability (Demo)" to streaming services on 14 December 2017.

Lorde told a crowd at a secret iHeartRadio concert she held in Los Angeles in August 2017 that "Liability" was inspired by a night she became "overcome with anger and emotion".

In there, she wanted to evoke the feeling of her walking away from said party down a hall, find a room, shut the door and then deliver a verse and chorus of the song.

[2] She also intended to have dialogue within "Liability", with someone calling her name and Lorde walking out of the room as the listener stays inside waiting for the next song to play.

She started recording the song at Electric Lady Studios, in New York, with Jack Antonoff and assistance from Barry McCready and Eric Eylands in engineering.

[8] Its lyrics reveal the consequences of Lorde's rise to fame, in the lines, "The truth is, I am a toy that people enjoy 'til all of the tricks don't work anymore / And then they are bored of me.

"[9] Billboard writer Andrew Unterberger commended its lyrics and Lorde's delivery, calling the song "an absolute jaw-dropper.

Both Lorde and Antonoff brought several pieces to place on the piano to feel like when they initially wrote the song; these included a set of candles, a copy of Lorrie Moore's short story collection Self-Help (1985) and a framed picture of Swedish singer Robyn.

[26] Vish Khanna from Exclaim described the performance as "artfully shot," with a piano accompaniment from Antonoff to back a "raw, emotional vocal" which was compared to American musicians Patti Smith and Paul Westerberg.

[30] Tove Styrke, an opening act on Lorde's Melodrama World Tour, released a demo of the track on streaming services on 14 December 2017.