Lorde Rebrands and Rejuvenates on Solar Power

Lorde is the master of the sad song. She’s just always had a knack for making people cry. From her initial album that wailed for the simplicity of youth to tales of feeling alone at a house party on her second, Lorde has found refuge in the loneliness we all face. The 24-year-old, legally named Ella Yelich-O’Connor, has an art for writing a soulful, raw ballad, and it’s this mood that has built her career. After the smashing success of her unarguably flawless album Melodrama in 2017, fans and critics alike wondered how the singer would top this work. Instead, though, of continuing this streak, Lorde made the decision to turn a major corner and begin producing, to everyone’s surprise, happy music. With the release of her third studio album Solar Power, Lorde confirms her versatility to the world and that within her work, there is something for everyone.

We entered this era together with the release of the album’s lead single “Solar Power” in mid-June, and the stylistic mood shift was immediately evident. After over four years with no music, fans had mixed expectations for what was to come, but few could’ve seen this coming. The single is a celebration of light and the summer season in which Lorde speaks directly to her fanbase and proclaims “Forget all of the tears that you’ve cried/ It’s over,” marking this switch from the get-go. Although many had a hard time getting behind the positivity, perhaps stuck in the post-quarantine blues, many found it comforting for that very reason.

Following behind “Solar Power” were two more singles, “Stoned At The Nail Salon” and “Mood Ring”. These singles are spectacular. “Nail Salon” gives loyal fans a slow ballad to grab onto, a track that confronts feelings of getting older and the need to settle down one day. She takes the listener through waves of nostalgia, proclaiming “All of the music you loved at 16 you grow out of,” and “Spend all the evenings you can with the people who raised you,” but stops herself before getting too far; perhaps she is just in a state of delusion, at the nail place high as a kite. “Mood Ring'' strikes a balance between the lightness of “Solar Power” and the honesty of “Nail Salon” with its satirical take on finding connection in the modern world (hence the chorus: “I can’t feel a thing/ I keep looking at my mood ring”). Each of the three singles has a different edge, a different appeal, yet all are beautifully written and, of course, beautifully produced by Jack Antonoff. 

With three incredible singles, fans came into the Solar Power debut expecting, of course, something great. But, when the clock struck midnight on August 20 and the album was out everywhere, many fans' first listens fell flat. Twitter and Reddit buzzed. Some headlines declared it a “near masterpiece” while others insisted it was “deeply uncool.” Why was this album falling flat? 

One reason may be that this album is just doing too much. The three singles did three different things at one time. Instead of sticking to those three themes or finding avenues within them, each track on Solar Power seems to do something separate. Rather than having a cohesive sound with a few different layers and focal points, it can feel as though the album has 12 different sounds -- one for each track. 

Lorde goes from discussing her breakup with Hollywood and distaste for the Grammys to the tragedy of the climate crisis and then to her advice as a twenty-something girl who’s “seen it all.” This just feels like, well, a lot. On her last album Melodrama, Lorde takes the listener through all the feelings of being at a house party after a breakup which of course allowed for ambiguity in storylines, themes, and sounds. On Solar Power, though, it can feel like a mesh of vastly different ideas that perhaps are all surrounding a focal point Lorde is aware of but not necessarily the listener. 

However, maybe there is something beautiful about that. In the four years that Lorde has been gone, there’s been loss in her home country of New Zealand, turbulent politics worldwide, the sweep of a deadly disease, the deterioration of our planet, and just another four years of her growing older. No one has had a perfect four years, yet there is still so much to dance about and find joy in. It may be unlike Lorde to create a work that’s incohesive compared to past projects, but just as the twenty-year-old Lorde on Melo was different from the sixteen-year-old Lorde on Pure Heroine, this Lorde can be different now, too. 

Lorde, no longer a junior musician, is allowed to produce an album that is not seamless and doesn’t have a thick layer of brush on top of it. It’s fair to wonder, though, why a musician would consciously choose to stray away from the genre that’s made them so popular and successful. The answer is that this isn’t about commercial success for Lorde anymore. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, she explained “I have more money than I could ever spend in my life. I own a home. I own some lovely rugs and great furniture and can buy whatever I want at the grocery store. Like, [I’m] good on money.” In fact, she even went as far as to hold her Solar Power tour in smaller venues for a cozier effect, even if one may argue it’s not financially sound. 

Because, really, this album is about the fact that she’s over it. She’s over trying to blend into the Hollywood scene. She’s over spending all her time on her phone, reading what others think of her. This is her art, her words, and her poetry. On Solar Power, Lorde’s work is no longer about “Lorde;” it’s about Ella Yelich-O’Connor. 

By Annie Levy