--- title: Rihanna Inspired a Track on Lorde's Album Melodrama description: Lorde revealed during a secret iHeart Radio show that Rihanna inspired Liability, a track off her latest album, Melodrama. canonical: https://time.com/4923621/rihanna-inspired-lorde-melodrama/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-31T19:51:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:58.212Z og:title: Lorde Says Rihanna Inspired Track From Album Melodrama og:description: Rihanna's song "Higher" influenced the New Zealand singer's track "Liability" og:url: https://time.com/4923621/rihanna-inspired-lorde-melodrama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9835359b3dda8971/6988dc0c196cf42c66041ba5/lorde-rihanna-inspired-melodrama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: iHeartRadio Secret Sessions By AT&T Featuring Lorde At The Houdini Estate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lorde Says Rihanna Inspired Track From Album Melodrama twitter:description: Rihanna's song "Higher" influenced the New Zealand singer's track "Liability" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9835359b3dda8971/6988dc0c196cf42c66041ba5/lorde-rihanna-inspired-melodrama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lorde Says Rihanna Inspired One of the Most Emotional Tracks on Her Latest Album > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f35d0b95-ea2a-4397-9def-079c652bdb44&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 31, 2017 7:51 PM UTC  LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 29: Singer Lorde performs during the iHeartRadio Secret Sessions by AT&T at the magical Houdini Estate on August 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 29: Singer Lorde performs during the iHeartRadio Secret Sessions by AT&T at the magical Houdini Estate on August 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Kevin Winter—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 31, 2017 7:51 PM UTC [Rihanna](http://time.com/4802935/rihanna-nba-finals/) of the [House of Fenty](http://time.com/4746220/rihanna-fenty-puma-video/), first of her name, [queen of the Internet](http://time.com/4852121/rihanna-jet-ski/), [champion of red carpets](http://time.com/4762629/rihanna-queen-met-gala-2017/) everywhere and [mother of clap backs](http://time.com/4807117/rihanna-body-shaming-response/) has long been established as both an icon and an inspiration to humanity. She is also, first and foremost, a musical powerhouse, whose influence not only on her listeners but on other musicians was made evident in a recent anecdote from [Lorde](http://time.com/4849054/lorde-on-taylor-swift/). Lorde, a talented and Grammy-winning artist in her own right, revealed to fans during a secret iHeartRadio concert in L.A. that her new song “Liability” was inspired by a moment in her life where she was moved to tears while listening to [Rihanna’s track “Higher.”](http://time.com/3734120/rihanna-higher-dancing-in-the-dark/) According to the [_Melodrama_](http://time.com/lorde/)singer, while in her native country of New Zealand, she was so overcome with anger and emotion one day that she walked for three or four miles before calling a car service to take her home. During the car ride, she felt teary-eyed while listening to “Higher,” an experience that many a Ri Ri fan can probably identify with. While telling the story, Lorde paused to sing the opening lines of “Higher” against the chords of “Liability.” “I was crying because I was feeling this very specific feeling of being ‘too much’ for somebody,” she said. “It’s a very strange feeling when you feel like you’re too much. Like you’re taking up too much space,” she explained. “And I felt like no one could ever love me for all that I am because I’m a lot…I feel everything so deeply, and that’s what _Melodrama_ is about; the depth of emotion, especially when you’re 19 or 20.” The peace she felt after listening to “Higher” helped her write “Liability,” revealing yet another gift that Rihanna has blessed us with. Watch the full clip below. > [](https://twitter.com/ThePopBible/status/902883931116187648) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4923621/rihanna-inspired-lorde-melodrama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4923621/rihanna-inspired-lorde-melodrama/"},"headline":"Lorde Says Rihanna Inspired One of the Most Emotional Tracks on Her Latest Album","datePublished":"2017-08-31T19:51:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:58.212Z","description":"Would you expect anything less?","url":"https://time.com/4923621/rihanna-inspired-lorde-melodrama/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music","Lorde","Rihanna"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9835359b3dda8971/6988dc0c196cf42c66041ba5/lorde-rihanna-inspired-melodrama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9835359b3dda8971/6988dc0c196cf42c66041ba5/lorde-rihanna-inspired-melodrama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"iHeartRadio Secret Sessions By AT&T Featuring Lorde At The Houdini Estate","caption":"iHeartRadio Secret Sessions By AT&T Featuring Lorde At The Houdini Estate","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4923621/rihanna-inspired-lorde-melodrama/","name":"Lorde Says Rihanna Inspired One of the Most Emotional Tracks on Her Latest Album"}}]}] ```