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Words: Devyn Molina

Image Source: YouTube [Screenshot]

Lorde has emerged from her four-year quarantine with the sun-kissed single Solar Power, and we are totally here for it. 

Four years on since the release of Melodrama, Lorde surprised fans with a new single and music video on Friday. Just days after teasing the artwork and upcoming album, she dropped the hit on all major streaming platforms. These two releases mark the beginnings of a new era for Lorde. She’s ditched her signature all-black, sombre, heartbreak-filled tunes and has instead, graced us with whimsical summer anthem, Solar Power. 

Just last month, fans were speculating that Lorde was going to release new music. Following the announcement that she is to headline the 2022 Primavera Sound Festival, fans have been keeping a close eye on the Green Light singer.

Lorde took to her newsletter to tell subscribers that the album would be a “celebration of the natural world. An attempt at immortalising the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors.” 

Solar Power was co-written and produced by Jack Antonoff, with vocals from “God-Tier female vocalist friends” Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers. The debut single creates an idyllic and carefree summer fantasy, filled with warmth and infectiuos happiness.

In a recent interview with Triple J Breakfast, she expressed her excitement for the upcoming album. “Every song on the album has to sound like the sun, and this one does in a big way. It sounds like the beach, the waves, the girls lying on the beach. I really wanted it to have that vibe. The guitars, the drums – everything’s so sunny.”

The Solar Power visuals present Lorde as the human embodiment of sunshine, glowing from the inside out, and wearing a yellow satin Collina Strada set to match. The video shows the songstress dancing along a picturesque shoreline, surrounded by others dressed in natural earthy tones, befitting the premise of the track. In a similar way to fellow young talent, Billie Eilish, Lorde has made her own aesthetic transformation, perhaps to mirror her own personal growth that has recently occurred.

With lyrics like, “Forget all the tears you cried / It’s over / It’s a new state of mind,” fans are primed to embrace this new era.

We watched Lorde battle through heartache on her previous albums, but Solar Power incites feelings of healing and freedom. A quick reflection on Melodrama foreshadows this new and exciting transformation. The closing lyric from Liability strangely said, “You’re all gonna watch me disappear into the sun.” Four years on, and that’s exactly what she did, and that is a beautiful coincidence.

The release of Solar Power on the 10th of June holds a beautifully poignant meaning. In this year’s Lunar Calendar, June 10th marks the only solar eclipse of the year, signifying rebirth and new beginnings. After all that the world has gone through recently, everyone is due a reset of their own. As such, now is the time to shed the burdens of the last eighteen months and dance your way into the summer sun.

If the as-yet-untitled album radiates half of the energy that Solar Power does, it’s certainly a shoo-in for our record of the year. 

Love memes? Take a look at some of our favourite reactions to the release of Solar Power, here!