Coming into 2021, there was the meme going around that Lorde was never going to release an album. It’s a fairly straightforward sentiment, especially when having to follow the career high reviews of “Melodrama” four years prior. It wasn’t clear if the singer who founded her success on counterculture anthems like “Royals” would ever bounce back, or if these two albums were the best that she’d ever do. Given that her last album ended by declaring “I hate the weather/I’m 19 and I’m on fire” (“Perfect Places”), there was a small cynicism amid the creative boom throughout that album. There was an earnestness, a pain of growing up and having these mature revelations… but was she moving too quickly?
There is nothing wrong with taking a four year hiatus between albums. Given that Abba recently broke a 40+ year drought, it’s amazing what artists can do with that extra time. The most interesting work comes out of experimentation, of stepping outside the familiar and attempting to craft something new. For some like St. Vincent, it’s almost a requirement that every album sounds differently. But as a teenage prodigy, Lorde had to figure out just what that meant for herself. While there’s clear progression and evolution in her style from “Pure Heroine” to “Melodrama,” one had to ask the question… what does she have to say at 24 now that she’s more established and confident in her career?
As she puts it, she made “Solar Power” into a weed album.
That’s quite the turn from where she was, but it’s a bold direction that at least raises interesting questions about where her career can go. With such versatility to switch up styles, to incorporate more acoustic guitars and psychedelic folk shows at worst an experimental album that removes all context of what we knew. Frankly, the album’s laidback vibe isn’t far off from her description, albeit with far less Cheech & Chong-style humor. What is there is a sense to take a break from the stresses of life. Roll out the beach blankets and get the tanning lotion because “Solar Power” is about just listening to the ocean waves roll in, the seagulls overhead, and finding cares disappearing under the hot sun.
With her body draped over the cover like a warped peace symbol, the album will catch many fans off guard for a variety of reasons. The most noteworthy is that it feels counterproductive to the times. With many fearing that the pandemic is continuing to roll through its third Fall season, there is more a desire to march on cynically, needing rebellious music to calm the jangling nerves. Jack Antonoff achieved this better with Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever,” where she summarized her personal loneliness with towering, operatic pop tunes. The modern frustration of society doesn’t make “Solar Power” feel warranted. It may explain why there’s an initial backlash along with people expecting “Melodrama Part 2.” Where is this album’s version of “Perfect Places” that leaves us yelling into the abyss?
After multiple listens for me personally, one thing is clear. This is a GOOD album. Even if one can argue that it’s disappointing, there is a clear and concerted effort. The vision is conjoined perfectly and captures the tone of a Lorde “weed” album. The issue is that it’s not striving to be a masterful commentary on anything. Lorde feels like she’s on vacation, coasting along and enjoying her early 20s. To be honest, that’s probably for the best. Still, as an album, there is something undeniable about listening and reaching the back half where it becomes less structured pop and more balladry, more introspective in meandering ways. Maybe in time, they will become cornerstones to her career, but for now, the album as a whole is GOOD, but it’s also painfully boring.
The best that can be argued is that the album is a muddled form of satire. To look at songs like “California” is to see her taking a critical eye to the fakeness of industries meant to create enlightenment. It builds to the existential crisis on “Stoned at the Nail Salon” before entering more creative outlets in the back half. However, if contrasted with songs like “Solar Power,” there is a suggestion to be had that she’s personally feeling happier as she sings as if from a hippie commune about how great the simple things in life are. So the real question that follows is whether this is an album meant to reflect sincerity, or to mock it? Maybe the real answer is that Lorde herself doesn’t know and she’s probably just running from the deep pain that’s always been there.
It becomes clear on the opening song “The Path” where she opens with one of the most striking opening lyrics to an album this year: “Born in the year of Oxycontin/Raised in the tall grass/Teen millionaire having nightmares from the camera flash.” With just three lines, she establishes herself perfectly at odds. There are references to pharmaceutical drugs, her hometown, and her career intersecting in ways that are apparent. She is a small-town woman who made it big, stressed out by how overpowering the world can seem. She asks “Now if you’re looking for a savior, well, that’s not me.” She’s doing everything to step away from fame, embracing something simpler, decrying the life of material wealth. She wants, as the title suggests a more solar kind of power.
The music sets the mood perfectly, using the lyrics as a suggestive way to cure the woes. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine life in nature. Step away from the world and just enjoy the finer things in life. It becomes clearer by the second and titular track, which finds her singing about the reasons she loves summer. It’s hot, full of social gatherings. She has never sounded so excited, her vocals practically blushing as she sings of her cheeks being “overripe peaches” and repeating the title throughout the chorus. It’s the kumbaya moment, the one that is driven by a jerky guitar riff paving the way for something more sparse, more reflective of her inner peace. “Solar Power” is going to be Lorde’s ultimate version of escapism.
The first half of the record is so much stronger than the back half, if just because it has the more creative song choices. “Stoned at the Nail Salon” recounts an existential crisis about the world, finding the previous highs turning into nauseated, swaying woes. She contemplates the problems of the world, emotionally capturing the pain of a generation who may never know the happiness that was advertised to them. Even acknowledging her own influence and success, Lorde recognizes that even she is trapped. For all the great music she will release, the world will continue to crumble. You can’t stop aging, “fade like roses,” and wonder if you’re just going crazy from overthinking.
The upbeat middle track “Secrets from a Girl (Who’s Seen It All)” has the benefit of being the most pop-centric track on the album, reflective of where her optimism is taking her. For all of the woes intertwined with attempts to find positivity, she reveals how much of her life she is grateful for. She shares the secrets of being a young woman while giving a fun hook and recalling those years of touring and falling in love. In a clever little touch, she even adds a flourish where she pretends that she’s flying an airplane and expressing her emotions through figurative means. As the only moment that takes this kind of risk, it’s cute and does the best job of reflecting her sense of self better than any of the more serious, thought-out verses she sings.
I suppose if there’s an issue with the back half, it’s that the tempo slows down greatly. The listener is already familiar with the laidback notions that Lorde is going for. It will only continue to grow trippy, finding her battling the two sides of her personality in hopes of finding nirvana. There is nothing wrong with these songs, but they largely feel like filler. The songs all blend together. They may create a vibe (which is cool if that’s your thing), but they do little to stand out in ways that Lorde has proven herself capable of. It’s at times an anti-pop record, more designed for Lorde’s enjoyment.
There is nothing wrong with this read, but it does explain why this is likely to be her most divisive album, at least so far. It’s not the most immediate. There are at times zero conflicts in the song that create propulsion. All there is a sense of meditation and taking it easy. For Lorde, that’s probably the right call. However, it’s a strange one to release amid conflicts that almost require panic. Then again, is Lorde being self-effacing, joking about how hollow enlightenment culture is or is she suggesting that we take to nature and enjoy ourselves amid growing natural disasters and health crises?
I am confident that given time and maybe a few years that the assessment will change on this one. It feels like a record that may make some feel at peace, but largely just make general fans impatient during a very stressful time. It does take admirable creative risks and creates a sound that suggests warmth and growth as a person. However, it’s also so docile. For all of its self-reflection as a snapshot of being a young artist, Lorde doesn’t feel like she has the most complicated things to say. Lyrically she’s still a creative genius. However, it does feel like somebody needs to be in certain headspaces to enjoy the album.
“Solar Power” is by no means a failed album. While it ranks among the more disappointing 2021 releases, it’s still refreshing to find pop artists that could settle for what worked doing something unique. Lorde’s ability to challenge herself and make something that spoke to her as a person gives the suggestion that she’ll only continue to grow, become more interesting as she ages into adulthood, and finds new ways to express her sentiments. For now, she’s young and carefree. That’s not necessarily a premise that works as an album’s theme, but then again sometimes you just want to put on something relaxing and forget that the world has its problems. For days like that, this record is useful.
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