Lorde's long-awaited return is here, and it's been a glorious mess
New Zealand artist Lorde’s return with "Solar Power" quickly dissolved into a PR nightmare, but don't let that take away from how good it is
Music Features Lorde
Pop superstar Lorde kept a tight lid on her life and new music over the last four years. She did everything right to conjure a mysterious and righteous return, from taking a long trip to Antarctica to sharing glimpses of her life through thoughtfully written newsletters to her fans. However, like a crack in a dam, the leaking of small details built into an overwhelming force, culminating in today’s unofficial “whoops!” release of her comeback single, “Solar Power.”
Even before the leak, Lorde stan Twitter accounts and deep-diving sleuths leaked early images of the single’s cover art and title, resulting in the official announcement on Lorde’s website on June 7: The cheeky design filled the web screen—and underneath it, the phrase, “patience is a virtue.” But after four years of silence, fans’ patience wore thin. Following its accidental early release in other countries on the morning of June 10, the mp3 for“Solar Power” was leaked on dbree.org, a cloud storage website. From there, dissemination throughout the internet was too easy, with a simple, downloadable file.
But this wasn’t just a slip-up on one overzealous fan’s end. The new single popped up on the music streaming platforms TIDAL and Apple Music, too. A flurry of mayhem ensued as fans scrambled to listen to the new track; in the midst of the commotion both platforms rushed to pull the song from their sites. (The TIDAL song page also revealed other details earlier than anticipated, including backup vocal credits from indie powerhouse Phoebe Bridgers and Claire Cottrill, who performs under the name Clairo.) Lorde’s much-vaunted return after four years dissolved into a PR nightmare.
No artist wants their work to leak and fumble the meticulously coordinated launch of a new era, unless they’re on some Banksy nonsense. A perfectly acceptable response by Lorde would be “[series of expletives],” even if the track was planned for official release today. The main thing that came to mind in the aftermath of the accidental early release was a wry (and unserious, it must be stressed), “Boy, I hope somebody got fired for that blunder.”
However, despite its lack of a grand entrance, “Solar Power” is exactly what Lorde needed to make a comeback. All of her previous work emulates a certain state of mind coinciding with different phases of life. Pure Heroine captured suburban mundanity and the moodiness of teenager-dom. Her sophomore album Melodrama draws a narrative of the messiness of early adulthood—the burning feelings of love and heartbreak, and how everything buzzes with the potency of new experiences. And now, her fans can once again turn to her for a “song of the times,” joining Lorde in her mid-twenties.
“Solar Power” begins with a declarative dislike for the winter season and the cold it ushers in. That’s a quick way to establish this is a song for the summer, celebrating the transformation that occurs as life begins to warm up again, and how good the sun’s vitamin D feels flooding the body. Lorde offers solace and release from sadness, urging listeners to “forget all of the tears that [they’ve] cried, it’s over.” Similar to Melodrama’s first single “Green Light,” “Solar Power” seeks to encourage ecstasy, but this time leaning into feeling carefree rather than careless. There’s no sense of urgency, just time to soak up the sun’s rays.
It carries signature Jack Antonoff production elements: a steady thrumming guitar line, layers upon layers of chorus vocals, and light moments of intimacy. And the bridge opens in a joyous celebration of what beautiful days spent in the sun surrounded by the ones you love can bring. “Solar Power” conveys the sense that life no longer feels like a candle burning at both ends, but ebbs and flows just like the waves. Her ideal release strategy may have gotten caught in the internet’s riptide, but based on the quality of her first single in years, this is just the beginning of a sunny era for Lorde.
74 Comments
These days a leaked single doesn’t even register as a “PR nightmare.”
unless the leaked single said anything about Israel and Palestine, yeah.
Or that Taiwan is a country.
It’s more likely to just be “PR”.
Or even “PR dream come true!”
This right here. It’s as simple as that. The music industry has been accommodating for “the leak” for years in most PR campaigns for major releases, going as far as to make it happen in situations in which it doesn’t happen organically and the PR campaign heavily depends on it. This apparent lack of coordination with Lorde’s new single is generating all the buzz it was meant to generate. How lucky of them to have the video ready for release the very day the song leaked, huh? A video that must’ve taken months to plan and execute, which means the final recording was ready a long time ago but somehow didn’t leak before it was convenient.I’ve worked multiple sides of this business, as a musician, radio host, agent, promoter, among other roles. My guess is they sent press promos as soon as everything was ready for release, and rolled with it the moment someone who got the promo leaked it, intentionally or not.I’m not saying everyone plays by these rules. Lots of artists go the extra mile trying to prevent leaks in order to retain absolute control over the marketing plan for a new unannounced release. But many others see no benefit in going through that trouble when there’s easier ways to generate buzz around a new record (especially for mainstream artists with large fanbases).
Oh really? Let’s play word association, shall we?Leaked single… What leaks? A bucket? A bathtub? No. Not serious enough. A ship! What could cause a ship to leak? A manufacturing defect? That’s boring. An attack! From who though? Maybe a spy? And how did that spy find out where the ship was? Probably someone being a bit careless with their words I’d think. Loose lips sink ships, you could say. That was a PR phrase used in World War II. The bad guys in World War II, the Nazis, believed that they were the single perfect race. Lorde is a Nazi, confirmed.When will Lorde release a statement apologizing for her ties to the Nazi Party??? We’re waiting, Lorde!
I thought she was a middle-aged geologist from Colorado.
Nah. Nazi’s too classy to put their ass on a vinyl album cover.
Jeepers, so The Riddler leaked the single!
Please don’t give Sam Barsanti an idea for an article.
– The AV Club.
Just to be safe, and to generate maximum clicks, I think we need to assume and call out all women as Nazi Princesses until further notice. It’s faster and safer than performing due diligence and applying critical thinking skills.
I see you’re an AV Club regular.
(Spike Lee angrily tweets God’s address)
Anaconda Malt Liquor gives you Oooooo!
whoever told you that you were funny was lying to you.
Damn, Randy is looking great!
A good review for a cis white person? YOUDONTSAY.JPG
“No artist wants their work to leak and fumble the meticulously coordinated launch of a new era, unless they’re on some Banksy nonsense.”Yes, because nothing screams “nonsense” like new and impromptu art pieces with major political and social commentary popping up at meaningful locations across the globe from an almost universally known but still underground artist…..(checks notes) but OMG the botched release of Lorde’s new single! What a NIGHTMARE!
Yayaya, I am Lorde.
So, where exactly is Antartica?
She’s got pipes.
I’ve never been interested in Lorde until I saw the cover for this album.Good… Lorde.
she’s really leaning into the “I am ridiculously hot” aspect to paper over the deficiencies in her…in her…I’m sorry what was I saying? I was looking at the album cover again
This might be a weird comparison, but with that outro it sounds like a really lazy and uninspired Primal Scream song.
Who?
Yo momma! LOL!
“Who?” is the new “Dawes” but worsties.
Literally Who #835?
RIP Bellonna…
How is this a pr nightmare? K
I don’t mind that it sort of sounds like a crap version of early-90s Primal Scream, more that it reminds me “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow.
Damnit, I like the song but now I’ll never be able to think of it without thinking of Sheryl Crow
Sounds more like a mash up of Faith and Freedom ‘90 by George Michael.
I definitely heard “Freedom ‘90″ in there. Glad it’s not just me.
The beginning sounds like Sympathy for the Devil gradually morphing into Freedom. Oh well. There are only so many chords in music.
Yeah, when it finally broke into the chorus I immediately heard Freedom ‘90. Not a bad thing, and I like the song overall.
I heard “A Little Bit Alexis” – but that may have been some of the dance moves.
Seems she is a victim of Suits & Ties. Her first album was pretty well written for a teen. I think this is an album just to get her career back on track so she can say, “Hey, I’m still alive! Look at me!”.
Is Lorde problematic?
PR nightmare? So that was Ellie Kemper as her butt stunt double.
Cool she re-emerges as the love child of Bjork and Greta.
Every time I think of lorde, I just think of randy marsh from south park lol
it’s more Amber than Green light!loved Melodrama, intrigued to know what she will do next but this George Micheal FREEDOM-esque sounding track doesn’t hit me.
yes it kind of feels like a regress from all her other work, but maybe the album will have a few more songs with a little more bite.
I mean…if you’re looking for a sunshiny, Primal Scream vibe, you could do way better.
Oh good, I felt like I was insane for seeing the poor Primal Scream ripoff!
meh
Love Lorde, but this song but doesn’t really do it for me. But again…I never liked Green Light either. So if this song is new album’s Green Light, I’m ok with that. Melodrama took me a while to warm up to, but eventually fell in love with it (quite a few stunningly beautiful songs). Pure Heroine was a masterpiece from start to finish (still one of my top five albums that’s come out in the past ten years…)If this new album can be in same class as her previous albums, I’ll be happy. This song isn’t a good start but we shall see!
Most definitely not a PR nightmare.
Hey, fun! Can’t wait to hear it in a commercial for Gillette.
Maybe its me but I think Lorde is a good example of why we need to go back to the time where musicians could be one hit wonders.
I think it’s mostly because of how things were lit and shot, but boy, do the folks in that music video look like a pale bunch, especially for folks singing about how much they love the beach and the sun.
Although isn’t it specifically about returning to the beach/Sun after a long dark winter?
fair enough
so if George Michael wrote Kokomo?She’s still really really hot, maybe hotter, so there’s that, but…her performing persona is so shallow it’s hard to tell if that’s her or if she’s being condescending (dumb songs for dumb fans?). I was also put off by her Israel/Palestine actions, which seemed pretty dumb…is she just dumb? That’s not against the law or nothin’.The lyrics in this song make latter day Black-Eyed Peas sound like Robert Fucking Frost.
So, she showed her creases. So? You still talking about it so it worked.
Why does this video remind me of Midsomer? Intentional or not?
I wondered that, I’m pretty sure the whole first 3/4ths of it were a one-take and building up to something ominous, and then it just doesn’t.But she’s more vividly dressed than the others in the kinda pastoral tropical cult wearing neutral tones that seem to be showing deference to their Queen — moreso than the standard pop video? And I’m still not sure why it looks like the “drink” she takes a sip from just looks like hollowed out celery? Everything just seems a smidgen off from what I’d have expected.
Was that a drink? I thought she was hitting a vape.
I thought it was a bulb of fennel.* just rewatched – it is a bulb of fennel.
Is that a visual pun for fentanyl then, does fennel have any medicinal properties or is it spiritually important to any groups, do people make bongs out of it the way some people use apples, or…?Edit: now I know what to Google for, it seems the answer is “it’s a bong.”
Lord(e) knows.
I thought it was a frozen drink, and then it was so cold when she exhaled there was steam?
She’s said the beach setting will be part of a ‘cinematic universe’ and there will be more coming…so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a darker spin on this setting in future videos.
(One big hint at that is right before the single take cuts, we see the camera pan passed some rubbish on the beach and Lorde quickly gestures at it to follow her away from the rubbish. So I feel this is just the start and we will get something more ominous as the whole album comes out.)
I saw a YT vid the other day where someone said “Lorde is just Bjork for normal people who go to parties” and I don’t think I’ll ever see her as anything else
This has been up for a while now and yet it still includes “Antartica”, which, yeah.
The “I’m like a prettier Jesus” along with the super culty Midsommar vibes of the video made me read the lyrics a couple times to see if there was anything subversive about the song I might’ve been missing on the surface, but I can’t find anything. I think it’s just a mediocre song with a funny lyric and a weird video that had to be filmed on a beach because of Covid restrictions, but someone tell me if I’m missing something!
Feel like that beat needed to drop about two minutes earlier. Dig the beach-meets-Midsomar vibe to the video though.
“I’m kinda like a prettier Jesus.”
Lo, she is back.
I’m kind of like a prettier Jesus.Ahem.
I really thought that was Aya Cash in the picture above.
Finally taking her throne as the next Kate Bush. Minus the black people dancing with watermelon.