What Happens When Sad Girls Don’t Want To Be Sad Anymore?: A Case for Solar Power (2021)
She’ll let the waves swallow your footnotes.
When asked for an impression of Lorde, people will give the stature of a girl who carries the weight of the angst of a thousand teenage girls: black, long hair; pale, white skin; all-black — sometimes with some variations of a dark color — outfits; eyes that stare down a soul just like her songs do. Serving as the catalyst of the future direction of pop stars who seek to make a soundtrack for a generation that lifts the weight of a global pandemic, climate crisis, and economic turmoil, Lorde’s Pure Heroine and Melodrama became the defining records for a generation that was scared of growing, or scared of love’s rude awakenings. But what if that catalyst suddenly disappeared?
What if, all of a sudden, the poster girl for letting people talk even though they think they’re boring, or the girl that slow-dances with herself, decided that well — it’s over (over, over, over)? That finally, she chooses happiness: that to deal with a midlife crisis was to be the polar opposite of who she is perceived? That maybe, going awol on social media wasn’t enough to care less about the public perception of one of alternative music’s angsty legends. Or maybe she’s doing this as a joke?
They’re not exactly riding the waves…
Some have called it cringe, waking up from a nightmare, and even flat-out calling it a disappointment: let’s just say Pure Heroine and Melodrama’s ravers, aren’t necessarily raving with acclaim. The critical acclaim that Lorde drowned in has now gone, with outlets not necessarily amused with her latest record. Citing her latest attempt as a departure from not only her unique sound, critics have cited a departure from the creation of that unique sound.
Looking back at the introductory paragraph, Lorde really is seen as a catalyst: specifically, one who always brings something new to the table — someone who can actualize the vibrations of a room at a teenage party, or maybe the feeling of eating fast-food to sober up. To be fair, it is hard to top the raw and hair-raising sounds of Pure Heroine, or maybe the floor-laying somber mythology of Melodrama, but critics tend to overlook the part where Lorde sees this album as an elegy to a version of herself that skyrocketed to fame.
Or is she joking? Some tracks like Mood Ring, according to Lorde, are satirical.
…but does the high tide matter to her?
As a singer who has taken the rare route of musicians who lay low and avoid social media (well, except for promoting their new records), Lorde has shown no interest in Solar Power’s commercial and critical success. Whether it’s sticking to her usual e-mail correspondence or not producing CDs to be environmentally friendly, Lorde’s third album is hers. Of course, she cares about her audience and loves her fans, but what makes Solar Power a career-defining album is that it is one in its own right.
As of writing, Solar Power is illegible to chart the Billboard 200 due to its leaning to digital release through the Solar Power Music Box. Solar Power is also debuting to a yellow start — whether you look at it as a rough start or a branding conscious beginning — debuting at 68 on Metacritic. Although, again, as of writing, take this with a grain of salt: the Metacritic average only consists of six reviews. However, one of music review’s boss level villains Pitchfork has yet to pounce on Lorde’s acoustic effort. With Lorde stans (like myself) who have waited for the Lorde and savior’s comeback jokingly calling to “stop the count!”, a callback to the rallying cry of Trump supporters during their fall from grace in the 2020 US Election, we have to step back from defending our queen to ask ourselves: does she even care about all this?
Learning her “secrets”
I am writing this review while the Western world has not been granted access to Lorde’s latest effort, and right now fans are tense with only these lukewarm reviews to supplement their four year hype for a new Lorde record. As a fanbase who is used to high praise and accolades to the Lorde and savior, it is understandable why some Lorde fans are going on fight or flight mode. Within a span of hours, a long wait for new music will be culminated, and fans have waited for this day to come for as long as they can remember. But surprisingly, they are not met with “the wait was worth it” levels of praise — they are met with questions of “you waited for this?”
With this, I would like to present a fact for the Lorde fans who will want to use their time today to defend the queen from the reviewers who are all flops or tasteless. For one, I do agree! But does our Lorde and savior even care for both the commercial and critical success of her new record?
To preface an in-depth listening of Solar Power, one must put into mind that, well, she probably doesn't care what you have to say about her new sound. Yes constructive criticism is what shapes the industry, but if you’re going to pander on about her old sound and wish she was more creative, maybe she’ll note the advice that she can actually take. However, she’ll let the waves swallow your footnotes on how the “new Lorde” isn’t what you wanted her comeback to sound like. To the fans, let’s take a hike and chill from these not-so pleasant reviews. Most importantly, don’t let the threats of a new sound make your four year wait less worthwhile. Solar Power is not the Lorde you know from her previous two records, and we’re going to accept what most of us are slowly realizing — this album is for the girl she was dancing along with in Liability, herself!
Enlightenment found
Now that I’ve (hopefully) made the case for Solar Power, here’s a review:
Solar Power, like its predecessors Pure Heroine and Melodrama, are atmospheric, confessional, and most importantly, hypnotic. The whole record is filled with psychedelic and nostalgic sound, paying homage to the sounds of 70’s rock, a sprinkle of Crosby, and even delightful early 2000’s pop, which cause a rush of culture-shock to a now bright and transcendent Lorde. This “new” old sound is the reason for spell-bound critics to reflect above-average ratings for a seemingly radiating album: a retreat from the alternative electronic-pop sad ballads, Solar Power is Lorde’s farewell album to a girl that she now considers a thing of the past.
The first act of Solar Power is an invitation by Lorde to dive into her new world. An enchanting opener, The Path gives us a taste of what to expect: “this is not the sad record that you thought this was going to be,” Lorde tells us, “listen to the sound of the waves, feel the grains of sands touching your feet.” And so we do, and then we realize, “hey it’s not that bad.” We then ease in to Solar Power and California, both decent psychedelic tracks that we can’t help but dance to. These addicting tracks brought to us by Woodstock-inspired acoustics ease us in to a new Lorde sound, and show the Antonoff touch evident in records like Lana del Rey’s Norman fucking Rockwell and St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home. Speaking of Lana Del Rey, Stoned at the Nail Salon became somewhat controversial for “ripping off” her sound, I digress and say that this is still a strong single. Not only is it lyrically strong, the Jack Antonoff standard songwriting and easy-to-play composition formula works in Lorde’s elegy to her past self.
While off to a strong start, the second act serves as a valley after the peak. Fallen Fruit, after having to follow Stoned is admittably hard but lags behind with a slow start. Although harmonious (and I can hear Phoebe Bridgers), the climate crisis song became forgettable for me. However, this is followed by a catchy Natalia Imbruglia homage Secrets from a Girl (Who’s Seen it All), which although vibrant, still misses some marks for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Robyn, but this outro did not work well for me, and personally, would’ve made sense if Lorde did it herself. We’re getting warmer with The Man with the Axe, which is a track to flex the big guns: the Fender Jaguar. It’s all over the album, but it shines in this track specifically. This is your Liability and Liability reprise, folks: this track yearns, this tracks hurts, and the chord progression takes notes from another psychedelic Antonoff-produced 2021 record: St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home. All this warmth is lost though because of my skip track, Dominoes. She probably made this acoustic-heavy track for the vibes, but she should’ve kept this one in the draft. Yes, the Fender Jaguar is shining again, but it doesn’t suffice on its own for this bland song.
However, we pick up to another Fender Jaguar flex song, Big Star. A tribute to Ella’s now passed doggo, the elegy pays tribute to a life with one of her closest friends, showing off her usual captivating vocals. But that’s not all for her stunning vocals. We are then shocked by a harmony so captivating and so refreshing that will cause jaw-drops — Leader of a New Regime features Lorde’s unique vocal stylings in composition dripping in honey, and just as hot as the summer heat: a perfect regime to Mood Ring. I can argue that this probably has to be one of her best singles ever. The Natasha Beddingfield serve, the satirical take on white women and rituals, the acoustics, the blonde wig. This is everything we can hope for in a dynamic single with Lorde, and then we get hit by that Oceanic Feeling. What an epic closer, although a staple in an Antonoff produced album (see: Now I Don’t Hate California After All by Carly Rae Jepsen), the four minute and above closing track never fails to be the ribbon that wraps an Antonoff produced album. Basking in its six-minute glory, Oceanic Feeling to me is a perfect catharsis of Pure Heroine’s synthetic beats, Melodrama’s lyricism and mythology, and Solar Power’s new sound: a testament that although Lorde’s teenage cynicism self is dead, it still lives as a learning lesson — which is all that matters really with her third record.
Solar power, forever?
With a Fender Jaguar and her heart on her sleeve, Solar Power is an effort that is not expected of Lorde. The kumbaya, bimbofication, tropics, surf sound, and live-laugh-love-isms throughout the record is a surprise that rocked both critics and some fans. However, this record is not seeking validation or to feel seen: basically, this is just Lorde basking in her new-found realizations. This is Lorde taking the old and bringing a “new” kind of light to her discography.
As Jack Antonoff has continued to impact my listening pool by being the head honcho in two of my favorite 2021 releases, namely Daddy’s Home by St. Vincent and Sling by Clairo, as well as collaborating in the Taylor Swift rereleases, I can see notes and criticisms on redundancy and even points on the Jack Antonoff Industrial Complex. However, I am growing fond of the direction he’s going post-Norman fucking Rockwell production. With Lorde taking notes of his fellow Antonoff girls, Lorde continues to discover her sound, and doing it for the most important person in her life she continues making music for: herself.
Solar Power (2021) by Lorde gets a 4/5 stars. Favorite tracks (not in order): The Path, Stoned at the Nail Salon, Mood Ring, Oceanic Feeling
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Got feedback on this review? Any thoughts on Lorde’s new sound, Jack Antonoff production, or have some erratums for this hot release? Shoot me a message through my Twitter!
