Audacy's First Impression series is where we review new albums in just one take. Going track-by-track, we break down the entire project and rate it because we all know first impressions mean everything.
When Lorde released “Solar Power,” her lead single and title track from her third album, back in June, it was easy to fall in love with the transcendental fairytale wrapped up in a Sheryl Crow-style folksiness for the summer. However, upon the arrival of her album in its entirety, we didn’t expect to be struck by a project that captures all the moods, nuances, and ideations of a 20-something trying to navigate through a quickly disappearing natural world.
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Oftentimes leaning heavily into the over-hyped world of the early 2000s, Lorde still achieves timeless tidbits through the 13-tracks, that bottle up the feeling of having to be both introspective and retrospective throughout your mid-20s.
Before the album arrived we knew the piece would be a balance of light and dark… a moment of looking back, looking forward and looking inward, that those on the cusp of figuring s*** out and trying to find their purpose in the world often do. However, from her own vantage point, the Kiwi singer employs the sun rays, the blue ocean, chirping cicadas, and an ethereal Laurel Canyon sound, as vehicles to help her interpret her purpose… which happens to be freakishly relatable at times.
Here are the first impressions we got from all 13-tracks on Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor’s Solar Power:
“The Path”
Lorde immediately pulls back the curtain on her third studio album with her first song “The Path,” as she sings “won’t take the call if it’s the label or the radio.” However, we are still lured in by her siren-esque song, even though she warns us that this body of work isn’t going to feature typical Pop hooks and trendy disco beats. But c’mon, IYKYK.
“Solar Power”
This summer’s lead single, Lorde’s title track is a self-confident diddy that poked fun at fame, equating the culture to some kind of hippie cult. But, tbh we’re still trying to track down that Collina Strada, yellow, silk, two-piece, set.
“California”
This is Lorde’s love-hate relationship with the golden state, apparently drenched in tequila. While Joni Mitchell sang about “California,” from fondness and a place of longing, the New Zealander splashes her mixed emotions about how the state changed her life and career forever. “Oh, once upon a time the Canyon store was where my world began all that mystery and beauty gleaned from desert flowers and gifted children,” sings Lorde. This picturesque image of LA’s canyons and deserts is quickly stamped out with the line, “But it got hard to grow up with your cool hand around my neck.”
“Stoned at the Nail Salon”
This is the introspective meets retrospective moment that speaks to us most. Although we’ve had more time to digest this track, as this was Lorde’s second single, released in July, we still have thoughts. The only group of people who can get away with being “Stoned at the Nail Salon,” and drifting off into a world of nostalgia and dreaming about the future… are those from the ages of 23-27. Lorde perfectly grabs a little chunk of what it feels like to be a 20-something right now… on the verge of reaching adulthood in an era where so much around us is so wrong, and shrinks it down into this little insular moment of her inner thoughts while high and receiving a pedicure. The singer cuts up vast thoughts and breaks them down into bite-size food-for-thought morsels, leaving us to understand that the most important thing we can do as 20-somethings right now is “spend all the evenings you can with the people that raised you.”
“Fallen Fruit”
The idea of “psychedelic garlands in our hair,” left us longing for carefree times. Times when you didn’t have to think twice about being in a crowd of people or uncomfortable being carefree.
“Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen it All)”
Lorde is giving us some Taylor Swift vibes, likely thanks to the influence of the all-knowing, Jack Antonoff. However, we’re also getting early 2000s movie montage vibes of a young woman striking out on her own and making her way in the world. We’re envisioning scenes of getting dressed, staring out of a rainy train window, looking up at the sky, and journaling. Also FYI, “Your emotional baggage can be picked up at carousel number two!” Lorde’s singing what we’re all thinking.
“The Man with the Axe”
This feels like the darkest corner of Lorde’s mind on the record thus far, as she discusses being derailed by love. The singer relates love to familial comforts and contrasts the warm feeling with the pain of heartbreak as she lets out the lyrics, “I should’ve known when your favorite record was the same as my father’s you’d take me down.”
“Dominoes”
On the track prior to “Dominoes” Lorde sings about being “taken down,” but as we arrive at the 8th song… now she is cutting deep and making them all fall like dominoes with the heavy hitter one-liner, “must feel good being Mr. Start again.”
“Big Star”
This is the section of the project where Lorde gives herself the space to grapple with becoming famous at 16, which is set on the backdrop of many sultry summer nights. From a retrospective standpoint, Lorde is taking stock of how she has arrived at where she is now, it’s honest but not as easy to relate to. As we creep up on yet another closing summer, Lorde croons, "but every perfect summer’s got to say goodnight.”
“Leader of a New Regime”
This is the shortest track on Solar Power, and we have arrived at the idea that this song might be a metaphor for Lorde’s withdrawn dissonant attitude towards social media. Is the song’s length a metaphor for the fleeting feeling of instant gratification we receive from social media? Do the lyrics, “free the keepers of the brunt out scene,” symbolize how platforms like Instagram and the influencers using it perpetuate unrealistic standards? Only the Lorde will know!
“Mood Ring”
There is something cynical about Lorde’s escapism and use of nature to reconnect with true purpose. It’s like Lorde kind of knows we’re all doomed, but she’ll “keep dancing until the mood rings.” Frankly, we’ll take a page from her book too. While we’re here on this Earth we’ll be stoned getting pedicures, dancing on the beach, and finding our sense of self amidst the flowers and the clouds… makes us realize that doom scrolling isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“Oceanic Feeling”
The final 6 minute and 40-second track on Solar Power allows listeners to be swallowed up by Lorde’s raw emotions, just as the great big blue ocean can also be all-consuming. Lorde pens a love letter to New Zealand, praises the natural world, and leaves us looking inward and then ahead to the future with the thought, “In the future, if I have a daughter will she have my waist? Or my widow's peak? My dreamer's disposition or my wicked streak?”
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