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Celebrating the natural world: Lorde unleashes her ‘Solar Power’
Inspired by 60s-era California folk music and 2000s-era radio pop, Lorde makes her case for “Album of the Summer” while raising awareness for environmentalism and mental welfare
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Feeling moody: Lorde releases her latest album 'Solar Power' (Lorde management/Courtesy of Ophelia Mikkelson Jones)
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fter almost four years of radio silence since her second studio album Melodrama, two-time Grammy winner and multiplatinum recording artist Lorde—real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor—has returned to the global pop landscape with her third outing Solar Power. In a virtual press conference on August 19, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter revealed that the early conception of her third studio album took place “in the first few months of 2019”—also, it has been her career philosophy to bide her time between records.
“The truth is, my album just takes me a long time because I’d like to have really undergone a personal transformation between albums so I have something really different to say. And that takes a while, obviously,” she chuckled.
Flower child
Described as “a celebration of the natural world”, Solar Power finds the New Zealand native exploring wispy, recherché subjects such as climate crisis, her connection to the planet, and the parallels between the modern era and “the 60s flower child movement”. To boot, the title of the album came about during her trip to Antarctica back in 2019. “[My trip to Antarctica] was amazing, [and] the name ‘Solar Power’ just popped into my head. I thought, ‘I think I’m gonna call it Solar Power’,” she added.
Solar Power, which dropped August 20 worldwide, marks a sonic switch for the artist. Instead of revisiting the minimalist electropop sound that initially catapulted her into the global pop landscape, she and her producer Jack Antonoff decided to opt for an indie-folk ambience with predominantly acoustic arrangements. “I wanted to kind of combine a bit of a 60s, 70s California kind-of folk sound with the music of my youth, which is, like, sort of early 2000s radio pop,” she elaborated. Sound-wise, she insisted the record feels “lighter and lighter, like you can just float away”.
Regarding her sonic switch, she explained, “I think of myself as a real shapeshifter. You know, I try and come back with a really different sound each time because I think that’s how you excite people and challenge them and kind of freak them out. I really want to be someone who, you know, can’t necessarily predict where [you’re] gonna go.”
Three singles were released before the album: the title track, the subdued folk ballad “Stoned at the Nail Salon”, and the psychedelic “Mood Ring”. The title track features backing vocals by American indie musicians Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo, with the production often being compared to George Michael’s “Freedom! ‘90”. The late singer’s estate has responded positively to the similarities between the two songs.
