The truth is I am a toy that people enjoy/
‘Til all of the tricks don’t work anymore.

“Liability” discusses Lorde’s wild life and wild nature and how it isn’t conducive to long-term relationships—both sexual and friendships. How can she be a strong woman who loves her life, while also being self-loving? It appears it just leads to relationships ending, and friends and partners discarding her frivolously.

Those are a lot of disparate ideas to reconcile.  Can she remain wild (a “storm”, a “forest fire”) without being viewed as a liability? Because she loves who she is but apparently doesn’t love the pattern of her relationships. They seem to be short-lived, and that isn’t what she wants. She seems to be viewed as a liability. Is it better if she were alone? She seems to be choosing that–for now.

The piano arrangement is about as simple as it gets. What makes it work is that Lorde’s voice and the lyrics are strong. The sound is haunting. There is an emotional presence that she brings to this song that I haven’t heard in her other work. It sounds more personal and relies less on post-production and effects and relies on a great voice and concept.

Liability Lyrics

Baby really hurt me.
Crying in the taxi,
He don’t wanna know me,
Says he made the big mistake of dancing in my storm.
Says it was poison.

So I guess I’ll go home
Into the arms of the girl that I love,
The only love I haven’t screwed up.
She’s so hard to please
But she’s a forest fire.

I do my best to meet her demands
Play at romance, we slow dance
In the living room, but all that a stranger would see,
Is one girl swaying alone,
Stroking her cheek.

They say, “You’re a little much for me,
You’re a liability.
You’re a little much for me”.
So they pull back, make other plans,
I understand, I’m a liability.
Get you wild, make you leave.
I’m a little much for
E-a-na-na-na, everyone.

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.
I know that it’s exciting
Running through the night, but
Every perfect summer’s
Eating me alive until you’re gone.
Better on my own.

They say, “You’re a little much for me.
You’re a liability.
You’re a little much for me.”
So they pull back, make other plans
I understand, I’m a liability.
Get you wild, make you leave,
I’m a little much for
E-a-na-na-na, everyone.

They’re gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun.
You’re all gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun.

Songwriters: Ella Yelich O’connor / Jack Antonoff