Lorde – Here comes ‘Solar Power’!

Lorde’s work to date consists of exquisitely produced electropop with dreamy synth textures, sweet harmonies and infectious vocal hooks. Solar Power and Stone at the Nail Salon have been released from Lorde’s forthcoming record and both tracks are equally as captivating, lush and breathtaking as her previous efforts.

In 2013, at the age of 16 years old, Lorde released her spectacular debut, Pure Heroine. The album went triple-platinum, won two Grammy Awards and certified her as the voice of a generation. Pure Heroine housed the hit single Royals, a track which has been streamed more than 820 million times on Spotify alone. After a 4 year wait, we were treated to the powerful follow-up Melodrama. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart, reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart and number 3 in Ireland.      

Speaking of her latest offering, Lorde states, “The celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalizing the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors. In times of heartache, grief, deep love, or confusion, I look to the natural world for answers. I’ve learned to breathe out, and tune in. This is what came through”. 

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Solar Power, we take a look at some of Lorde’s biggest hits. 

1. Solar Power
2. Royals
3. Green Light
4. Perfect Places
5. Stoned at the Nail Salon 

Solar Power

The title track from Solar Power was released on 10 June 2021 and features uplifting sounds reminiscent of 1960s & 1970s psychedelic folk mixed with Lorde’s rich and warm vocal. The track is drenched with feel-good summer vibes and features the production expertise of Jack Antonoff, who worked with Lorde throughout the whole record. Solar Power has already been streamed over 55 million times, with 30 million of these coming in the first 5 days of its release!

Royals

Royals was featured on Lorde’s debut record Pure Heroine from 2013. The album ended up on many end-of-year critics’ lists and it sold more than 1,700,000 copies in the US alone. As for Royals, this is Lorde’s most successful single to date. The track cemented Lorde as “the youngest solo artist and the only New Zealander to achieve a number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1987”. 

Green Light

The opening track to Lorde’s second studio album, Melodrama, is the powerful Green Light. With polished production and flawless songwriting, the album’s uplifting lead single entered the top 20 in the singles charts in the US, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

Perfect Places

The second single taken from Melodrama was the slick electropop hit Perfect Places. The atmospheric R&B influenced track is striking with its huge chorus section, sharp synth sounds and complex drum machine beats.    

Stoned at the Nail Salon

Stone at the Nail Salon is the second single from Lorde’s forthcoming third record, Solar Power. Lorde’s vocals are paired with intricate guitar fingerpicking and subtle sweet textures which sweep in and out throughout the glorious single. The track is serene and creates an incredible sense of calm from start to finish. The single encapsulates Lorde’s description of the album, focusing on the healing ability of nature. 

This level of thinking runs throughout not only Lorde’s songwriting for Solar Power but also its distribution. To honour the natural world the artist is presenting the album in a first-of-its-kind, disc less format. An eco-conscious Music Box will be available for purchase as an alternative to a CD. This innovative offering will contain extra visual content, handwritten notes, exclusive photos and a download card. The card will give purchases a high quality download of the music, two exclusive bonus tracks and access to some special surprises along the way!

While known professionally as Lorde, the artist’s birth name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor. Born in Auckland, her father is of Irish descent and her mother was born to Croatian immigrants. With comparisons regularly made between New Zealand and Ireland, and with Irish blood in the family, we can perhaps start to connect the dots as to why Lorde has been inspired by nature for her latest record, Solar Power. The album is set for release on August 20th.