Lorde's Solar Power rides the acoustic vibes all the way to the beach
Auckland, New Zealand – Lorde rediscovers the beauty in instrumentals on her third studio album, Solar Power.
The long-awaited return of Lorde has come with the release of her third studio album, Solar Power, by Universal Music New Zealand.
It's obvious that the musician has experienced a lot of life since her last album, Melodrama, with a sense of maturity and newly-gained perspective immediately noticeable in her songwriting.
As someone with synesthesia, a condition that allows people to see words or feelings as colors or shapes, Lorde said on Late Night With Seth Meyers that the album radiated with a golden, sunshiny hue – largely inspired by New Zealand summers and her experience visiting Antarctica.
The record, which was produced by Lorde and longtime collaborator and frontman of Bleachers, Jack Antonoff, kicks off with a song called The Path.
On the track, Lorde reflects on how she was catapulted into fame at the age of 15 and how it negatively affected her mental health "Teen millionaire having nightmares from the camera flash. Now I'm alone on a windswept island. Caught in the complex divorce of the seasons. Won't take the call if it's the label or the radio," she sings
The song ends with a nod to the sunshine that encapsulates the album, "Let's hope the sun will show us the path."
As listeners make their way through the album, it's evident that Lorde has moved away from her overproducing and synth-sounding ways, opting for acoustic instrumentals such as snare drums and acoustic guitars.
On the song California, Lorde dishes on life in Hollywood, and the overrated nature of it all, singing, "Don't want that California love."
Sonic shifts come into play mid-album
While the album starts off on a solemn note, the sound shifts on the sixth track, Secrets From a Girl (Who's Seen it All).
Steering clear of anything we've heard in her discography so far, Lorde sings along to an uplifting, poppy beat right out of the gate. The meaning behind the lyrics matches the sound of the track, as the singer reflects on the coming of age, and the lessons learned as she continues to grow up.
"You couldn't wait to turn 15, then you blink, and it's been 10 years. Growing up a little at a time, and all at once. Everybody wants the best for you, but you gotta want it for yourself," she croons.
The eighth single on the 11-track album, Dominoes, fully encapsulates a day at the beach with its minimal production and an electric guitar sound that mimics the sweet simplicity of a ukulele.
The 24-year-old has stacked vocals of varying harmonies on the album's second-to-last song, Leader of a New Regime. Continuing the summer vibes of Dominoes, she sings about heading to the beach to waste her days away with good music and magazines.
The final song, Oceanic Feeling, serves as a surprise to anyone streaming the album, as the title is blacked out, and only accessible by listening through the record in its entirety. She starts by labeling the day as a color, in this case it was blue, relating it to the ocean, and the retrospective feeling she gets "when [she] hits that water".
Given her massive success with her breakout single, Royals, Lorde told People she wasn't too hung up on recreating the same type of buzz that nearly swallowed her whole after it's release, calling it a "lost cause" to even attempt going back to that same well again.
Lorde will soon embark on her Solar Power World Tour, kicking things off at Electric Avenue Festival on February 26, 2022, in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire