If you liked Lorde's previous albums, you should definitely get Solar Power. Lorde not quite nailing it is still high quality.
If you liked Lorde's previous albums, you should definitely get Solar Power. Lorde not quite nailing it is still high quality.
LIFE, ART AND EVERYTHING
In the time between Lorde's second album, the wonderful Melodrama, and the release a few months ago of the single Solar Power, Taylor Swift released about a dozen albums.
Well, not quite that many, but it seemed like it. Our Lorde, for whatever reason, had gone missing in the pop universe.
The long wait was forgiven when I heard Solar Power. I loved it. A slow-building gem of a pop song, perfectly on note for these wintry times. A musical balm for the Covid blues (and the climate change blues, the Trumpism blues, and all the other blues).
The song had trademark Lorde lyrics. Sly asides and stunning rhymes. My favourite beachy lines: "My cheeks in high colour, overripe peaches / No shirt, no shoes, only my features / My boy behind me, he's taking pictures."
Coupled with the summerly strum of acoustic guitar, lines like these instantly put the listener at a Northland (or Auckland) beach on a beautiful day.
And then she drops the line: "I'm kinda like a prettier Jesus." Wow, that's a line that hits you with some force.
Somehow it manages to be a joke, a subversive gender statement, and evocative of what it feels like to be happy, leading a group of friends onto the white sands of a deserted beach. There's a lot in that one line.
In the final part of the song, the beats kick in, with Lorde repeatedly singing "solar-olar-olar power". In the video she's dancing on a pontoon out in the water.
It's ridiculously catchy, and you wonder why the two words, "solar" and "power", had never been used like this in a song before.
Lorde's Solar Power album cover. Photo / lorde.co.nz
Towards the end, there are trumpets that recall the distinctive piccolo sound from another upbeat, feel-good song, Penny Lane by the Beatles.
What a return this song was. And a new direction. It promised so much.
Then came the understated Stoned at the Nail Salon. Not as good I thought, nor solar themed. A bit of a downer.
Mood Ring was better, a nice tune, a beat, interesting lyrics, and closer to the idea I had built up in my mind about what this album would be.
Then California was released, and disappointment set in. In this song, Lorde refers to receiving her Grammy from Carole (King) and makes the predictable claim that she'll "never be the same".
It's not a bad song. The problem is, the song is about Lorde's superstar life and experiences, which I find difficult to relate to.
Lorde is a personal writer. One reason Heroine and Melodrama mean so much to fans around the world.
But having now given the whole Solar Power album several full listens, I wish the references to Lorde's "real life" of fame and celebrity weren't so frequent. Even if she does take a negative or detached stance towards those things.
There are some striking lyrics, but to resonate we have to be concerned about her poor rich life and the online hero-worship (and abuse) that celebrity invites. Challenging experiences for a young woman to negotiate, no doubt, but they're not universal ones.
Paul Simon once said it's harder to write songs after you become successful. His point was that you lose touch with the life that first inspired you to write songs. Now your life is living in a flash house with no money worries. Not the same romantic fodder for songwriting.
Lorde is clearly conscious of a gap opening up between her privileged life and her fans. Writing about those anxieties, unfortunately, increases awareness of the gap.
Another criticism is the sameness of the digitalised musical production, which becomes cloying after a while.
The beginning of side two of the record has a sequence of four songs that I can only describe as noodling. The music is indistinctive. While the lyrics are introverted in a way that creates a barrier between singer and listener. The songs don't reach out to touch us.
It's a pity the two bonus tracks from the digital download, Helen of Troy and Hold No Grudge, weren't included here instead. They are, to these ears, superior.
Despite the reservations, if you liked Lorde's previous albums, you should definitely get Solar Power. Lorde not quite nailing it is still high quality.
Perhaps if she had stuck more closely to themes of sun, nature healing, female power (and left out some of her real-life baggage), this could have been a truly great album.
In Oceanic Feeling', the last song, Lorde weaves memories of beach, sun, fishing, childhood and family with dreams of the future. It's a beautiful song where Lorde's experiences meld with our own.
