I have been a Lorde fan for as long as I can remember. From Pure Heroine to Melodrama, I’ve listened to it all. Even The Love Club EP. My top album of hers, though, has to be Solar Power. It touches less on the teenage nostalgia of Pure Heroine, and the early adulthood confusion of Melodrama, instead focusing on the feelings accompanied by being in your mid to late twenties, right at the end of early adulthood, yet still too young to be called an adult. Lorde meanders through a quarter-life crisis with beachy guitar tracks and soft-spoken vocals. I will also include my favorite lines from each song at the end of my analysis.
The Path
The Path is steeped slowly in mellow guitar riffs, sun-stained lyrics, and high vocals. Lorde sings about how she felt as a famous teen during the release of Pure Heroine. She also references how celebrities are treated like gods, and how she wishes her fans wouldn’t look at her in this light. She croons about how she shouldn’t be viewed as a savior, but as someone trying to find their path as well.
“Supermodels all dancin’ ’round a pharaoh’s tomb”
Stoned at the Nail Salon
Stoned at the Nail Salon is a track about indecision, looking back, and wondering how your life would’ve been if you hadn’t made the decisions you did. Lorde said in an interview that her favorite thing to do when she needed a break was to get high and go get her nails done. She has been unapologetic about her relationship with cannabis. In Stoned at the Nail Salon, Lorde reminisces about her life now, and how it used to be. The chorus repeats the line “Maybe I’m just stoned at the nail salon again” as if she is being silly and merely remembering.
“‘Cause all the music you loved at sixteen you’ll grow out of
And all the times they will change, it’ll all come around”
Secrets from a Girl (Who’s Seen it All)
Secrets from a Girl is a message to Lorde’s younger self. Throughout the song, she refers to insecurities she had about her rising fame as a teen, during the release of her single Still Sane, and Pure Heroine. She also speaks about how she thought she’d never gain self-control, but then contrasts that with a direct example of such behaviors. She includes a spoken word outro as well. A flight attendant, now arriving at Sadness, giving warnings about emotional baggage, and how temperatures are unbearable until you face them. It is clear that even the flight attendant doesn’t know where she is going, and that only you can find your way through.
“Couldn’t wait to turn fifteen
Then you blink and it’s been ten years
Growing up a little at a time, then all at once”
Leader of a New Regime
Leader of a New Regime serves as an interlude and is the 10th track of the album. The lyrics are surprisingly short, only two verses, 8 lines altogether. This song is Lorde’s version of a future prophecy, following a pop star after the end of the world. Cities are burned out, and people are retreating to their natural sanctuaries to start again. This pop star has a trunk full of music and designer dresses and plans to live out the rest of her days. The second verse begs someone to be the leader of a new regime. A message that if we don’t change our ways, we will have nothing.
“Free the keepers of the burnt-out scene another day
Lust and paranoia reign supreme”