Lorde chose Jack Antonoff as the main collaborator because she felt the need to expand her artistry from the Joel Little-produced Pure Heroine.

Melodrama received universal acclaim from music critics who complimented its sound and Lorde's vocals and direct songwriting; it was featured on various year-end and decade-end lists.

[2] Later in 2014, Lionsgate announced that Lorde would curate the soundtrack for the third installment of The Hunger Games franchise, which would be followed by the release of the film's lead single "Yellow Flicker Beat" to critical acclaim.

[3] In an interview with Australia's Triple J radio network in February 2015, Joel Little, who produced Pure Heroine, said he was scheduled to join Lorde for a writing session in a recording studio the following month,[4] although a definite plan was not yet established.

[7] The singer confirmed the break-up during interviews following the release of "Green Light" (2017),[8] leading to her indulging in "heavy drinking" and noticing there was an "element of escapism and exploration" in doing so.

[9] Lorde eventually replied to a comment on her Instagram account in late August 2016 that she completed the writing process of Melodrama — still untitled at the time — and that she was in the production stages.

[15] The singer also travelled by helicopter to a rental house on Waiheke Island, where she could write without distractions,[16] would continue working through "false starts, fruitless detours and stretches of inactivity" as she retreated from the public spotlight.

[16] Interviewed by the publication, Lorde says Melodrama is not simply a "breakup album" but is rather a "record about being alone", featuring both the favourable and unfavourable aspects associated with "heartbreak and solitude".

[17] According to Lorde, she had to deal with "very serious, vivid feelings" she needed to express after experiencing her first heartbreak and moving out of her parents' home; as a result, she spent time isolated in her own house.

[17] While writing content for the album, Lorde took influence from a number of settings and tested new material by listening to demos through earphones at a diner near Columbus Circle, which she did for about four months to understand how the music would sound in everyday life.

[16] In her home in New Zealand, Lorde had a wall of notes for her songs, which she used to "skim" the whole album; it allowed her to find connections to each track and "fill in their blanks".

Lorde later visited McKinniss' studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where she took a liking to a full-figure portrait of the cover photograph of Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain and a painting of Lil' Kim.

[20] McKinniss and Lorde met in November 2016 at his friend's studio on the 42nd floor of Frank Gehry's 8 Spruce Street skyscraper,[19] which consisted of coloured bulbs on a lighting rig and a space with several windows.

[21] The pair considered making the photography session "operatic" and pre-Raphaelite-inspired, but scrapped the idea because they were satisfied with Lorde's facial expressions on the resulting images.

McKinniss made two paintings from his photographs; one featured a blue glow with a warm flush on Lorde's cheek and the other has different lighting, with "paler, sweeter" colours.

Tatiano Cirisano, writing for the latter publication, said McKinniss "perfectly communicates the intimacy and coming-of-age storyline" of the record with its "hazy twilight hues and bedside setting".

[30] According to NME, different personae of Lorde, ranging from the "strong, composed young woman" to the hidden "psycho", are showcased through her vocal performances on the album.

Lorde wanted to showcase contrast, going from "big and grand" to "really tiny and intimate", as well as desired to reference personal events, headlines and themes associated with the World Wide Web.

The track's instrumentation also includes a tenor and baritone saxophone, a trumpet,[50] as well as the sound of a tiger's roar, which was added when Antonoff looked through samples on his computer.

[60] Lorde wrote down the main theme of "Writer in the Dark" after waking up in the middle of the night in a stranger's bed, feeling naughty and empowered while doing so.

[49] "Perfect Places" was inspired after the deaths of David Bowie and Prince occurred, two musicians Lorde states were the most influential for the recording of Melodrama.

[61] The website featured a short clip of Lorde sitting in a car eating and drinking while a piano-backed track played in the background; this was followed with the dates "3.2.17 NYC" and "3.3.17 NZ" appearing onscreen.

[73] At the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, Lorde performed an interpretive dance to "Homemade Dynamite", which was met with mixed reviews from critics, some of whom called it "bizarre".

[75] Following her performance, Lorde released a remix of "Homemade Dynamite" that featured guest vocals by Khalid, Post Malone and SZA as the third single from the album on 16 September 2017.

[31] In contrast, Carl Wilson of Slate conceded that the record was "kind of a detour" in comparison to 1970s artists such as Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.

"[94] Pitchfork writer Stacey Anderson concluded that it was "a sleek and humid pop record full of grief and hedonism, crafted with the utmost care and wisdom.

Club writer Meagan Fredette dubbed the record as "rich and cohesive",[93] while Drowned in Sound's Joe Goggins concluded that Lorde "[operates] at the highest artistic level yet [puts] it across as easy-access modern mainstream pop.

"[101] Writing for Spin, Anna Gaca quipped that Melodrama "embodies a strange, studious undoneness, the blacklight black-and-blue of a perfectionist trying to capture imperfect feelings".

[102] However, the Los Angeles Times critic Mikael Wood was less positive; he critiqued the album's storyline theme but acknowledged Lorde's potency when "owning her newfound authority".

[112] A day before the event, Variety reported that Lorde had declined to perform at the ceremony after the Recording Academy asked her to sing with other artists in a tribute to Tom Petty.