Stripped back and sans studio trickery, she’s still got the goods. The songs have understated elegance and charming harmonies. Whether that perspective rings true with her followers is yet to be seen.
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‘ I thought I was a genius but now I’m 22 and it’s starting to feel like all I know how to do is put on a suit and take it away’ she sings on The Man With The Broken Axe before talking about owning hundreds of gowns and paintings in frames. She doesn’t want to be our saviour but songs called Secrets from a Girl (Who’s Seen It All) and Leader of a New Regime indicate a serious hero complex.Ĭomparing the year of your birth to the world’s most addictive pharmaceutical drug, is odd. Good for her.īut the tone can be jarring. While it seems trite, on some level of course, she’s right. Easy stuff to be cynical about and many will be. She sings about sun salutations, transcendental meditations and Pluto in Scorpio generation. Solar Power is Lorde sharing the secret of her happiness. Once that clicked, I could appreciate it for what it is.
Young people who genuinely look to Lorde for life advice. No obvious big hits is a deliberate choice, she’s downscaling expectations. The realisation was slow to dawn, this album isn’t for fans like me at all. I was humming that silly wordless bit in the shower. Despite all my intellectual rationalisations it firmly lodged itself in my brain. It’s not up to her usual high standard I said. Solar Power (the song) is next, which again, I initially struggled to appreciate. Lorde’s not going to give us what we want or expect. That statement informs the entire record. Then the kicker ‘ If you’re looking for a saviour, well that’s not me’. Is this the same person that sung Royals? It’s not even a humblebrag, it’s just a brag. Teen millionaire having nightmares from the camera flash’ and just like that (click), I’m struggling.
It begins with The Path and these lyrics ‘ Born in the year of Oxycontin, raised in the tall grass. If you’ve listened to the last forty seconds of Solar Power (the song) when the drums kick in and it becomes Loaded by Primal Scream (or George Michael’s Freedom 90 depending on your reference) you’ve already heard the energetic high point.