Every cloud has a “Solar Power”

After a never ending 4 years hiatus, Lorde comes back with a third album ‘Solar Power’ released on August 20, 2021. With a 12 tracks length (or 14 for the Deluxe version), this new album is a turning point in the singer’s career, both in the vibe and the themes.

A bit of history about Lorde

‘Melodrama’ has created a lot of expectation for Lorde 3 meanwhile Lorde disappeared of socials and the only news we got of her were about her trip in Antarctica in 2019. This trip and climate change both have heavily inspired this new album. ‘Solar Power’ has been produced by Jack Antonoff, who also produced ‘Melodrama’, but it’s as far as it can from being a Melodrama 2.0. Here, Lorde has dropped her electro-pop vibe, the signature of her previous works. If we had to resume the vibe here, we would have to talk about the rock from the 60s/70s or the hippies and the “flower power” movement.

Secrets From an Album (Who Says it All)

True to herself, Lorde keeps criticizing society and the popularity she got back in 2013 when she was only a 16 years old teen. Starting strongly the album with the song ‘The Path’, she talks about the 2016 Met Gala where she stole a fork for her mother and reminds people to not look for saviors in famous people. Famous people can’t save them but the sun and nature can help them. ‘California’ tells the story of her escaping Los Angeles for a more peaceful life in New Zealand. For people who paid attention ‘Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen It All)’ is a direct reference to ‘Pure Heroine’: she took two chords from the song ‘Ribs’ she then reversed for this new song. It’s a metaphor where she communicates directly to her 16 years old self who was so scared of growing up telling her it’s fine and everything is going to be okay for her. ‘Fallen Fruit’ and ‘Leader of A New Regime’ are songs with explicit lyrics about climate change. Lorde warns us about what could happen if we do not take care of the Earth and compares the planet to a fallen fruit.

My opinion on ‘Solar Power’

I wasn’t really a fan of the singles. Actually, I was a bit disappointed about this whole new vibe, this constant acoustic guitar we could hear in every new songs she was releasing. But after listening to the album various times, it grew on me. I started appreciating the singles as a part of the album and not as independent songs because that was not the purpose of ‘Solar Power’. And to keep it true to the core of the album, those singles were not made to be radio hits. Lorde wanted to release music and stay far away from the fame. To conclude, ‘Solar Power’ is like a trip, here Lorde takes us with her in New Zealand, in the green fields and huge mountains where she celebrates the sun and the ocean with us and analyses who she is now. This album has to be listened as a whole, like a story in which you can’t skip any chapters.