Solar Power is the third studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. Lorde wrote and produced the album with American musician Jack Antonoff, with whom he also worked. This type is characterized by being capricious, superficial and unreliable, in stark contrast to the admirable theme of the previous song, The Man With the Axe. In the lyrics booklet, Lorde revealed that she originally wrote the centerline of the song (I don't know, maybe I'm just high in the nail salon) as a joke, before realizing she was beautiful.
The song I'm still trying to figure out is Oceanic Feeling and the song that really caught my eye when I understood it was Fallen Fruit. The only distinguishable romantic song on the album, “The Man with the Axe” is a slightly sleepy but seductive ode to her lover, with lines like “your office work, and your silver hair implying that the song is her boyfriend Justin Warren, a Universal Music executive. The first verse hints at Lorde's climatic anxiety (I hate headlines and weather) before the song becomes an existential and weary search of the world for some kind of sanctuary (in the music video, she seems to find refuge in nature, appropriately). This time in consolation it is clearly reflected, both lyrically and sonically, on their third studio album, “Solar Power.
Lorde has also described the Scottish rock band Primal Scream as the spiritual ancestors of this song, and their 1990 song Loaded as the original model. The song was translated into Maori by Hēmi Kelly, who said of the song: I love the warmth of summer, so it was easy for me to connect with the lyrics. It wouldn't be a real love song by Lorde without her reflecting on her own self-realization when it comes to their relationship, which she does on this track saying “I thought I was a genius, but now I'm 22 years old and it's starting to feel like all I know how to do is put on a suit and take it off. Although its slightly superficial sound always risks fading into the background, Solar Power's lead single serves as a fun and nourishing look at the album's emotional highlights.
Lorde manages to make “Solar Power” feel incredibly private and personal to its wide audience. Lorde is honest about her life in her lyrics, so a lot of “Solar Power” discusses the problems she encounters with fame. I watched Genius's interview about Mood Ring, it made me understand the song better and now it's one of my favorite songs. It will take several listens before you can come to a conclusion about what it is really about, but there is something about this song that makes you feel embraced and understood before you even understand it, an ambiguous quality that has always been present in Lorde's best songs.
This metaphor could be inspired by Joni Mitchell's The Circle Game (We are captive in the carousel of time), whom Lorde has cited as one of the main sources of inspiration for the composition. Vincent's latest album, Daddy's Home, an album also produced by Jack Antonoff (“Solar Power credits Antonoff, the rest of the album's production credits have not been announced).
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