2018 is back, and not in the way you think. Recently, a TikTok featuring 2018 PowerPoint about Lorde and Jack Antonoff gained a lot of traction. Created by a Lorde fan, buzzkillary, the PowerPoint is an extensive case study on the singer and a rumored relationship with Jack Antonoff during the recording of her sophomore album, Melodrama.
Titled “Lorde and Jack Antonoff — An Emotionally Broken Journey,” the creator describes Melodrama as a breakup album, not about Lorde’s ex-boyfriend at the time, James Lowe, but about Antonoff that was disguised using the “house party” metaphor.
This 30-slide PowerPoint goes into great detail about Lorde, Jack, and all the contributing characters in the situation like Taylor Swift, Lena Dunham (who was dating Jack at the time), and even Lorde’s mother. Then it continues to dissect a few songs from Melodrama and connect it to an alleged relationship between the singer and the writer. For example, in Melodrama’s lead single “Green Light,” buzzkillary says the lyrics “I know about what you did and I wanna scream the truth / She thinks you love the beach, you’re such a damn liar” claims that it’s about Lorde basically saying that Lena doesn’t know Antonoff like she does.
However, the most iconic slide from this PowerPoint is the slide dissecting Lorde’s 2018 performance at the Barclays Center where she, according to buzzkillary, “brings out Jack, who is chewing gum, onstage at her show in Brooklyn.” A lot of fans at the time commented on how “cuddly” the pair looked onstage.
This fan-made PowerPoint still remains an iconic part of pop culture history. But with the PowerPoint resurfacing on the internet again, fans start to wonder: Was Jack Antonoff the actual muse for Lorde’s album Melodrama? Were the rumors real? What happened to Taylor and Lorde’s friendship? Well, my answer is that we’ll probably never know. Both Lorde and Jack have debunked the rumors in 2018 and have continued to move on in their careers. But, it’s still fun to look back at the iconic Lorde and Jack Antonoff PowerPoint for a good laugh.