Lorde – Solar Power
(Universal Music)
Reviewed by Tim Gruar.
Yes, we know. This album has been out for a little while now. Reviews have accused it of being a bit dull and drab. ‘Where are the big hits?’ they ask. ‘What’s all this sun-love-digital detox and anti-fame stuff?’ With the world going yet further down in Hell’s handcart and our own country back in another lockdown, how does an album dedicated to uncoupling all that really sound?
Now is the time to listen, really listen. So, popping on my headphones and cruising around the empty backstreets on my bike, I’m taking time out to feel the glorious radiance of ‘Solar Power’.
Was it really eight years ago that Ella Yelich-O’Connor and her friends were catching buses and counting their money on the way to the party, scoffing at ‘gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom, blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room’? Now she is the party. And she hates it. At least it seems that way.
Obviously, ‘Royals’ was intended to moralize the artificiality of the culture of hip-hop and the ‘fake idolatry’ of the music industry, in general. Her debut, ‘Pure Heroine’ put paid to that. It was such a startling, genuine experience, so raw and honest, and damn catchy.
But that was then. The album that followed, ‘Melodrama’, the tours, the exposure all made her front-page news. And as Kiwis, we identified with this little bird, taking on the big, bad commercial entertainment world, playing those huge stages to all those fawning fans who ‘got her’. Just like we did. Surely, she is entitled to bask in the glow of her own star power. I mean who wouldn’t?
Turns out, she really does hate all this showbiz stuff. Early drops, like the title track to ‘Solar Power’ came as a surprise to everyone, except her Kiwi audience. Most listeners were ready for more of the brutal resilient, defiant pop that forms the backbone of 2017’s ‘Melodrama’, her album of concept, loosely modelled on the experiences of running into an ex-lover at a party. All the emotional baggage ready to drop on vulnerable toes or throw at the culprit’s head.
Not so. This is a brush off. This is anti-drama. Now she’s choosing to reject the bullshit, influencer culture of Instagram and Twitter. She drops out of social media sight all together and goes bush. Well, at least she makes it through MIQ and is holed up back ‘home’ in Auckland. She’s asking us if she can get off the pedestal we’ve elevated her up on to and let her bury her toes in the sand and the tide wash in.
‘The Path’ declares that Lorde is no longer open for business: “Born in the year of Oxycontin, raised in the tall grass. Teen millionaire having nightmares from the camera flash…Won’t take the call if it’s the label or the radio”. Oh, what a position to be in, eh? No, really, Lorde wants to be left alone: “Now, if you’re looking for a saviour/ Well, that’s not me/ You need someone to take your pain for you?/ Well, that’s not me.” Musically, I was reminded of the contrasting Laurel Canyon folk. The bitter poetry of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ and the irony she employees on ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns’ – an exclusive look behind palm trees and gates that protect the super-wealthy and the super-bored. You have to wonder if Lorde is actually fucking with us just a little bit, acknowledging that she could be one of those swanky ‘Grey Goose’ swillers, hiding behind the mask of shy, Kiwi girl, keeping her talons sharp and ready to lash out.
Takes one to know one, it seems. ‘California’ blatantly rips off Joan Didion with the line “Don’t want that California love” about the excessive lifestyle of artists living in Laurel Canyon. It’s also a smash’n’grab on the artists who lived there, flower power hippies, Coachella babies and SxSW hipsters. Not for the first time, you find yourself trainspotting the references – Tarantino: “Once upon a time in Hollywood when Carole called my name” (that’s Carole King who announced ‘Royals’ as song of the year at the 2014 Grammys). Or The Eagles from Hotel California “..,And a voice said, “We’re glad you came” (who’s checking out now?). Or The Mama and The Papas “Bye to the clouds in the skies that all hold no rain”. Lorde sings the chorus in appropriately dreamy high vocals. Oddly, it fades out to a guitar tuning that sounds like something you’d find on one of South African star Johnny Clegg’s records than the quiet nuevo-folk of José González of which the rest of this song is modelled on. Despite all, ‘California’ is still a literal “break up” with fame. A choice to move well away materialism and the clickbait lifestyle. Kind of what those artists who moved to Laurel Canyon were trying to do – at least in their music.
The title track, ‘Solar Power’, irritates me. From the first bars my mind is racing. That initial guitar strum is surely from the Stones’ ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ or is it George Michael’s ‘Freedom! 90’. That line, “Can I kick it, yes I can?” Where have I heard that, Robbie? And don’t get me started on the Primal Scream rip-off, right down to the trumpet descant. At least she’s over throwing her hands in the air! Did you spot the line about ‘Peaches’? Did it remind you of the song of the same name by the Stranglers? For a song about digital detoxification there’s an over representation of music stream surfing activity going on here…
Structurally, the song departs from the usual verse-chorus-bridge template that all samples above were created around. Instead, there’s a sneaking revelation of lines that build towards the climatic outro that goes “solar-olar-olar power” subtly embellished by the backing vocals of Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo. Sure, they are name checked but what their real contribution is – well, that’s hard to say.
The song and album were apparently inspired by a trip to Antarctica back in 2019. Since then, she’s been outspoken on climate change. The lines “Turn it on in a new kind of bright / It’s solar / Come on and let the bliss begin” are a nod to more natural alternatives, even though they sound like lines from a pretentious day spa salesperson. It’s the healing power of nature, don’cha know.
Another spot of pilfering pops up in the lines “Come one, come all, I’ll tell you my secrets / I’m kinda like a prettier Jesus”. Are Dave Gahan and Martin Gore aware that they are not the only ones on the end of the receiver, making you a believer? At least Johnny cashed in. And you can’t ignore the imagery in the video of a cult leader firmly in command of her disciples. Definitely an improvement on the morbid Icarus imagery on tracks like ‘Liability’. “They’re gonna watch me disappear into the sun”. That’s not a graceful exit. This time it’s all about the Sun god, Ra. This Jesus is personal for Lorde. And she’s having fun with it.
If ‘Royals’ was about calling out modern music’s fake news messaging, then where does that leave rich kid trailer trash songs like single ‘Stoned at the Nail Salon’? These are likely a series of impressionistic snapshots, tiny details, petty trophies from the front lines of a celebrity lifestyle: Going to the 2016 Met Gala in a plaster cast; stealing a fork as a souvenir for mum; “supermodels all dancing ’round a pharaoh’s tomb”; admissions that “I’ve got hundreds of gowns, I’ve got paintings in frames and a throat that fills with panic every festival day.” Along with ‘The Path’ these songs all see Lorde thrashing about like a marlin as she wrestles with her success.
This is hardly new. Honesty about the often-crippling stress caused by our modern 24/7, always on, up your skirt & stab your back un-social media cycles has been the theme of recent albums by Billie Eilish (‘Happier Than Ever’); Clairo (‘Sling’) and Lana Del Rey (‘Chemtrails Over the Country Club’). Megan and Harry raised the issue of fame and depression with Opra and even Olympic gymnast Simone Biles recently declared burnout. Top tennis player Naomi Osaka refused to do media. It seems everyone is showing signs that they’ve had enough of riding the big bad pretty hate machine.
If there’s a connection to the music, then it could be producer Jack Antonoff, who had hand in three albums I’ve listed, plus being a regular contributor with Lorde. Perhaps, in some way he’s giving permission or encouragement to bear their souls in this way?
Not all of ‘Solar Power’ is about pop eating itself, though. The best song on the disc has very little to do with the fame monster.
“Dancing with my girls, only having two drinks, then leaving/It’s a funny thing, thought you’d never gain self control,” Lorde sings on ‘Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen It All).’ Sure, it’s a few wise words, but the open lyrics don’t necessarily have to be the voice of a jade pop star. The spoken word outro could just as easily be sisterly advice to a younger sibling. It’s very clever, relatable and fits any situation: “Thank you for flying with Strange Airlines/ I will be your tour guide today/ Your emotional baggage can be picked up at carousel number two / Please be careful so that it doesn’t fall onto someone you love.”
‘Mood Ring’ is the album’s third single. It hovers about in a ‘spiritual’ haze, wafting on about touchstones of the health and wellness industry. She’s mocking it all – the ‘mindfulness’ and the wheat germ smoothies – with list of body and mind cleansing actions: “Ladies, begin your sun salutations / Transcendental in your meditations… I’m trying to get well from the inside / Plants and celebrity news, all the vitamins I consume.” Spirulina enema, anyone?
‘Dominos’ continues the trippy irony when she calls out the integrity of an ex, perhaps the same one that lied about the beach? “Now you’re watering all the flowers you planted with your new girlfriend / Outside on the rooftop / Just another phase you’re rushing on through” “Go all New Age,” she recommends, the “outrunning your blues.”
The intentionally sluggish track called ‘The Man With the Axe’ is all about personal growth and maturity. She’s declaring what her 21 year old life has achieved, messy, staggering discovery, an eternal process of stops and false starts. “I thought I was a genius but now I’m 22.” Don’t we all think we’re better than sliced bread at that age? The sad thing it appears, is that growing up somehow sheds the confidence and making us self aware of our limitations.
The album closes on a song I personally think it should open with. The loose, meandering ‘Oceanic Feeling’ explores life after ‘stardom’ beginning with bucolic memories from her family’s past and present. Like a photograph she describes the trivial and innocent. Her father, as a boy, fishing and gutting fish. Her brother skateboarding around the neighbourhood: “Little brother/I think you’re an angel/I see your silver chain levitate/ When you’re kick-flipping”. You can imagine this activity on sunny shores of Takapuna or Cheltenham Beach. Innocent days, like scenes from Bruce Mason’s ‘End Of the Golden Weather’, a million miles from hustle and chaos of Los Angeles. Didn’t she once sing “She thinks you love the beach, you’re such a damn liar”?
By the end of the song and the album, there’s the declaration that returns to the album’s core mantra: “I’ll know when it’s time to take off my robes and step into the choir.” Such a great line!
I said at the start that many critics found this album a bit light weight. I have to disagree. Musically, yes. Nothing really jumps out at you. Nothing to hum in the shower, surely. But lyrically, it’s a treasure trove of references, milestones and touch points. The themes are clear, the goal is lofty but achievable. Neil Finn wrote about copping out on ‘Rest of The Day Off’, to hang at Piha Beach with Sharon. Lying on the beach like ‘two shiny dogs’ on a hot summer’s day. I thing this was the real intent Lorde is trying to convey. Leave your phone on the charger (or better still drown it in a glass of water) and head to the waves; take a chill pill and soak up the sun. And once we get out of level three, I intend to do just that!
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