13 JUNE 2021: LORDE – Solar Power

Lorde’s first new track for four years, ‘Solar Power’ is a total vibe shift from ‘Melodrama’ – but that’s exactly what a new album era is meant to be about.

It’s been said a million times before, I know, but Lorde is such an anomaly in the landscape of the modern music industry – so much so, it can seem as though she operates on her own planet at times. It’s been four years since the critically-acclaimed masterpiece that was her second album ‘Melodrama’, and she’s been pretty much silent ever since – eschewing social media and the like, preferring to communicate with her fans via open and personable emails (and the infamous onion ring Insta, of course). For the most part though, she’s always let her music do the talking, and she comes across as wonderfully authentic as a result.

And now she’s back! Though ‘Solar Power’ is still produced by long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff and lyrically very much in line with Lorde’s playful, abstract style, the sound is totally different from what we’re used to from her. The chord structure is very George Michael ‘Freedom’, and the guitar effects are reminiscent of the more psychedelic side of the Beatles’ later work… giving this one a really timeless vibe. The thing is, if you like Lorde’s inimitable vocal style, you’ll like it in any setting, and it doesn’t take many listens to get swept up in the bright, laid-back energy of this one. With lines like ‘I’m kinda like a prettier Jesus‘, it was always going to become a classic. Now, all together, blink three times when you feel it kicking in…