Lorde

Solar Power

Where each song on Melodrama felt like rushing into the next room at a wild house party to discover a new scandal or hookup, each successive song on Solar Power feels like returning to the same yoga class day after day; there might be the odd new mantra or position, but there’s nothing truly revelatory.

The album feels thoroughly tamped down both in terms of energy and emotion ... there’s nothing to match the thrill of hearing her pull back the veil and treat us to a glimpse of pop’s future on Pure Heroine, or the empathy engendered by Melodrama's visceral account of young adulthood.

The characterisation on the album can feel trite, trying too hard to lean into a particular aesthetic or, when attempting tongue-in-cheek, falling short of its own lofty expectations.

Gone are the days of an image of a teen girl with a low, raspy growl in her register and goth-plum coloured lipstick; instead, Solar Power champions an organic ethos, transience, and lots of yellow.

Lorde’s Solar Power is a disorganized, hackneyed collection that doesn’t deepen her existing body of work but introduces a woman riddled with white privilege.

Lorde’s third album, Solar Power, emerges at a moment where the world is begging for escapism, and Lorde is itching to provide it. So if Solar Power seems like an album well-calibrated for this moment, why does it feel so inessential?

If you're not riding her wave, Solar Power can seem elusive, even cloying, as it circles and sways with a smile.

If you’re looking for a culture-changing album, an emotional experience, or more than two dance-worthy songs…Solar Power is not it.

Solar Power is not a transformation so much as it is a straight regression. Lorde’s behind-the-scenes actions and motives may be admirable – inspirational, even – but unfortunately none of that translated to record here.

With her third album, the 24-year-old New Zealander writes her ode to the sky, but gets lost in the clouds.

Solar Power sounds like an opting out from wider pop culture altogether. It’s a musical resignation letter, advising her fans to look elsewhere for a saviour in the first song.

It’s a shame to witness such a fall from grace, as all the genius on Melodrama seems to have stayed there, leaving Solar Power high and dry without any flavour or journey to embark on. Lorde has found her new world, and sadly, it’s not the one we’re living in.

Lorde lacks the writing chops or perspective to follow through on Solar Power’s themes and satire.

Get lost in Eilish’s album instead, for there’s really no need to return to Solar Power.

Lorde has always been a master of balancing satire and vulnerability, which makes her “summer album” all the more disappointing in how uneventfully she drops the ball on executing her promising vision.