This is the last installment of my analysis on Lorde’s Solar Power album. As with my last two parts, just as a disclaimer, this is my initial listen on all songs. I’ll then be giving my raw thoughts afterwards as I interpret the song. Last post, we stopped on “The Man with the Axe” which leads us into “Dominoes.” Feel free to listen along to the album songs as you read my thoughts on them. Links will be provided. 🙂
8. Dominoes
Lyrics
I heard that you were doing yoga
With Uma Thurman’s mother
Just outside of Woodstock
Now you’re watering all the flowers
You planted with your new girlfriend
Outside on the rooftop
Just another phase you’re rushing on through
Go all New Age, outrunning your blues
Fifty gleaming chances in a row
And I watch you flick them down like dominoes
Must feel good being Mr. Start Again
I know
Know a girl who knows a
Another girl who knows the woman that you hurt
It’s strange to see you smoking marijuana
You used to do the most cocaine
Of anyone I’d ever met
Just another phase you’re shooting on through
The whole world changes right around you
You get fifty gleaming chances in a row
And I watch you flick them down like dominoes
Must feel good being Mr. Start Again
Yeah, it must feel good being Mr. Start Again
Don’t get up
Yeah, it must feel good being Mr. Start Again
Raw Thoughts:
This track, it feels calming in a way. There’s this nice, simple beat that continues throughout with flickers of new additional sounds that pop up fittingly. It’s one of those beats that make you just wanna say back and forth.
With the lyrics themselves, the beginning lines make me think she’s singing about someone who’s older to have experienced Woodstock with Uma Thurman’s mother. This person is also a party spirit I can imagine from the copious amounts of cocaine they seemed to used to do. He seems like a fun guy, “Mr. Start Again.” Also, the second to last line of, “Don’t get up,” gives me more reason to believe he’s someone older.
My biggest question is whether this is someone Lorde knows personally, or if this is just a random narrative about someone fictitious. This person who has changed with a seasoned reputation in life. Who are they?
9.Big Star
Lyrics
Everyone knows that you’re too good for me, don’t they?
I’m a cheater, I lie, and I’m shy
But you like to say hello to total strangers
Shivering pines and walls of colour
I can’t believe I used to stay inside
But every perfect summer’s gotta say good night
Now I watch you run through the amber line
I used to love the party, now I’m not alright
Drinking in the dark, take me home tonight
Baby, you’re a big star
You’re a big star
Wanna take your picture
I toss up if it’s worth it now
Every time I get on a plane
I’vе got so much to tell you
And not enough time to do it in
But еvery perfect summer’s gotta take its flight
I’ll still watch you run through the winter light
I used to love the party, now I’m not alright
Hope the honeybees make it home tonight
Baby, you’re a big star
You’re a big star
Wanna take your picture
‘Til I die
‘Til I die
‘Til I die
Raw Thoughts:
This is a negative-self view song. It differs from the perspective I think the other songs have been in because they remained more as a positive new self Lorde sung about. Reflecting back to the beginning track though, “The Path”, I remember the journey it mentioned. If this album is symbolic to that journey, this may be the hard parts where she’s grown from.
I do think talking bad about herself, causes the descriptions of this “Big Star” to be even more grand than if it had been if described on its own.
There is still growth shown nonetheless besides the ‘hate talk’. Towards the beginning of the track there is mention of how she became isolated and drank more, then it shifts to her on plane rides. I do sense there is more productivity in the routine with this line, but afterwards with, “I’m not alright,” obviously it shows this is only the start regaining balance.
10. Leader of a New Regime
Wearing SPF 3000 for the ultraviolet rays
Made it to the island on the last of the outbound planes
Got a trunk full of Simone and Céline
And of course my magazines
I’m gonna live out my days
Won’t somebody, anybody, be the leader of a new regime?
Free the keepers of the burnt-out scene
Another day, lust and paranoia reigns supreme
We need the leader of a new regime
Raw Thoughts:
This continues the story! “Made it to the island on the last of the outbound planes” In the last song she was getting on the plane, now she mentions her destination was to an island. This changes everything. If we’re following the album’s story, I feel like I must have missed a shift earlier that the album took. When the album was starting with “Solar Power” and talking about not having any cell service and being on beaches…(*wink wink*)…where we seem to be going back to?
This is where I’m not sure. Did I miss something? I’m not sure whether right now with this track if Lorde is going back to the beaches and island bliss or if the album started there and then began a flashback to show why Lorde went to the beaches/islands in the first place.
Also, “Free the keepers of the burnt-out scene.” This line right here makes me wonder if she is referring to herself as one of these keepers because she is going to get her freedom. Then, the next line mentions that so far nothing is changing. Acknowledging the problem but then not volunteering to fix it, I think she is saying someone else needs to step up. Obviously I hope it doesn’t go as literal to mean she is done with music now. Please no 🙁 I must have just misunderstood… *gulp*
This song may be short, but it is vital to the story-telling of the album. I can’t wait to see if the next song answers my questions.
11. Mood Ring
I’m tryna blow bubbles, but inside
Can’t seem to fix my mood
Today it’s as dark as my roots
If I, if I ever let them grow out (ah-ah)
Now all of my oceans have riptides
Can’t seem to find what’s wrong
The whole world is letting me down
Don’t you think the early 2000s seem so far away? (Ay-ay-ay-ay)
Ladies, begin your sun salutations
Transcendental in your meditations (love and light)
You can burn sage, and I’ll cleanse the crystals
We can get high, but only if the wind blows (blows just right)
I can’t feel a thing
I keep looking at my mood ring
Tell me how I’m feeling
Floating away, floating away
I’m tryna get well from the inside
Plants and celebrity news, all the vitamins I consume
Let’s fly somewhere eastern, they’ll have what I need (they’ll have what I need)
Let’s go
Ladies, begin your sun salutations
Pluto in Scorpio generation (love and light)
You can burn sage, and I’ll cleanse the crystals
We can get high, but only if the wind blows (blows just right, ri-ri-ri-right)
I can’t feel a thing
I keep looking at my mood ring
Tell me how I’m feeling
Floating away, floating away
All the sad girls sing
We’ll keep dancing ’til the mood rings
Tell us how we’re feeling
We’re floating away, floating away
Take me to some kinda
Take me to some kinda
Take me to some kinda place (anywhere)
Watch the sun set, look back on my life (take me to some kinda)
I just wanna know, will it be alright? (Take me to some kinda)
Take me to some kinda place (anywhere)
Raw Thoughts:
And, the story continued. (I don’t think that was a complete sentence. The story isn’t either though, so it should be okay.) Here we are, this feels like Lorde has made it to the island and doesn’t exactly know how to heal. The song does seem to have a spirituality to it. With the mention of the astrological of “Pluto in Scorpio generation” and then again with the mentioning of crystals and sage, an herb known for cleansing. She is trying to find ways to shake off the negative energy that has brought her down in the rest of the album. It feels like a fresh start.
I think the use of saying she needs a mood ring to understand her emotions is such a clever thing to have done. To my knowledge, mood rings are almost known as a youthful, childish-even, thing. Also, with the line about her reflecting on how “far away” the 2000s seem shows that she is thinking to the past. Possibly even to a time when she was younger and may have possessed a mood ring, except this time the ring has new purpose for her now. It’s all very poetic and stunning.
Sounds amazing as well! This is truly all circling back to the beginning of the album and feeling so cohesive in its storytelling. I’m impressed.
12. Oceanic Feeling (Final Track) 🙁
It’s a blue day
We could jump Bulli
When I hit that water
When it holds me
I think about my father
Doing the same thing
When he was a boy
When he was a boy
It’s a blue day
We could go fishing
You’ll cast the big one
Ah
Sliding the knife under the skin
Grateful for this offering
And all the living things
Under the sun
Under the sun
Little brother
I think you’re an angel
I see your silver chain levitate
When you’re kick-flipping
Baby boy, you’re super cool
I know you’re scared, so was I
But all will be revealed in time (time, time)
Oh, look, the rays are in the bay now
Can you hear the waves and the cicadas all around?
I can make anything real
Rays so hot, it’s a summer body
Everyday is blue and never cloudy
Don’t look down
I can make anything real
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?
Will she split a tab with her lover?
Laugh with the stars like her mother
When she was a girl
When she was a girl
Now the cherry black lipstick’s gathering dust in a drawer
I don’t need her anymore
‘Cause I got this power
Just had to breathe
(Breathe out, breathe out, breathe out, breathe out)
And tune in (tune in, tune in, tune in, tune in)
Just had to breathe
(Breathe out, breathe out, breathe out, breath out)
And tune in (tune in, tune in, tune in, tune in)
I just had to breathe
And tune in
I just had to breathe
And tune in
Just had to breathe
Oh, has enlightenment found?
No, but I’m trying, taking it one year at a time
Oh-oh, can you hear the sound?
It’s shimmering higher
On the beach, I’m building a pyre
(Used the wood brought in by the tide)
I-I know you’ll show me how
I’ll know when it’s time to take off my robes
And step into the choir
Raw Thoughts:
She’s got it. She’s on the right track. This song is living proof of that because she has grown enough on this album to look outward from herself. She is singing about not only herself but also her family, and it’s super sweet. Finding comfort in the ocean and relating it to her father was everything. Hearing Lorde give messages to her little brother and just tell him like, ‘I see you. I went through the same thing. You got this.’ It’s just so refreshing to hear. After all the struggle this feels like a great close off.
She doesn’t need her cherry black lipstick anymore I feel has to be a reference I can’t realize at the moment. There’s a confidence that I enjoy seeing. After hearing of the hard times along the album, I’m glad to see Lorde take a stand. Her healing process feels like it’s becoming complete. Her growth is going to take off from here.
The little bit at the end about having not reached enlightenment was nice to here. I think it’s a message people need to hear. Sometimes you just have to take it one small bit by a time to stay okay, or better.
This song feels like it has caught up to “Solar Power’s” point of life progression-like we’ve officially caught back up from the flashback the album took. Now though, we caught up and kept going, and I think that was the point. I feel satisfied as a listener with this ending. The album and collection of tracks feels like a whole, solid artwork. It’s masterful.
I’m so glad I got the opportunity to delve deep into looking at all the little gears that turn for this album to work so well. I’ve always been a fan of Lorde since her debut album, and nothing has changed after hearing this one.
Also, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did making it.
I obviously can’t wait to see what she does next. Until then though, I think she’s taught me to just live in the moment and until the moment comes: “Breathe out, and tune in” ♥
