Solar Power (album)
Solar Power is the third studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. It was released on 20 August 2021, by Universal Music New Zealand. Lorde wrote and produced the album with American musician Jack Antonoff, with whom she also worked on her second studio album, Melodrama (2017).
Solar Power
20 August 2021
2019–2021
- Electric Lady (New York)
- Conway (Los Angeles)
- Roundhead (Auckland)
- Rough Customer (Brooklyn)
43:09
- Lorde
- Jack Antonoff
- Malay
The album was preceded by Going South, a June 2021 memoir documenting Lorde's 2019 visit to Antarctica, which she dubbed as the precursor to the album. She stated the title Solar Power was inspired by the trip, and that she "felt like [she] could just chill out and flex a little bit" while creating the record. Three singles were released before the album; the lead single and title track, "Solar Power", was released on a solar eclipse and entered the charts in various countries, reaching number two on the New Zealand Singles Chart. It was followed by "Stoned at the Nail Salon" and "Mood Ring", leading up to the album's release.
Classified by Lorde as her "weed album", Solar Power is a psychedelic pop and indie folk effort driven by acoustic guitar arrangements, marking a departure from the synth-heavy, dance-oriented music of her previous works. The album's lyrics revolve around solipsism and summer escapism, mainly focusing on Lorde's leisure time in her homeland New Zealand, simultaneously expressing her disdain for fame and celebrity culture. Solar Power was met with polarised reviews from music critics, who commended Lorde's matured vocals, but were divided over its songwriting and production; some reviewers praised the laid-back music and perceptive themes, while others considered its sound unfinished and lyrics dispassionate. Lorde later described the response to the record as "really confounding," and "painful".[2]
Commercially, Solar Power reached number one in Australia and New Zealand, and charted inside the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Scotland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It additionally topped the US Billboard Alternative Albums chart. Lorde opted against manufacturing CDs for environmental reasons, releasing Solar Power to digital music platforms, streaming services, and as vinyl LPs only. A Māori-language EP, titled Te Ao Mārama, was released on 9 September 2021 as a companion project to Solar Power. It consists of the Māori versions of five tracks from the album. To promote the album, Lorde embarked on her third concert tour, the Solar Power Tour, visiting North America, Latin America, Europe, and Oceania.
Commercial performance[edit]
Two weeks before its release on 20 August 2021, Solar Power rose to number one on the Apple Music pre-add chart for the week dated 30 July to 5 August 2021.[114]
In the United States, Solar Power entered the Billboard 200 chart at number five with 56,000 album-equivalent units moved, consisting of 34,000 album sales, and 22,000 units calculated from the 28.38 million on-demand streams the album earned in its opening week. Solar Power is Lorde's third top-five album on the chart, following Pure Heroine (number three in 2013) and Melodrama (number one in 2017).[115] Hits criticised Billboard for not counting the sales of Solar Power "Music box", which are disc-less box sets containing a download card linked to a digital copy of the album, a 32-page booklet, a poster and some limited-edition goods, for the Billboard 200 chart; their own Hits Top 50 chart and the Rolling Stone Top 200 chart included the music box sales and placed Solar Power at number three in those charts. According to Billboard's long-standing rule, a box set must contain a physical copy of the album.[95][116][117] It also reached number one on the US Top Alternative Albums chart.[118]
In Australia, Solar Power debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart[119] and stayed on it for 6 weeks. It also reached number one in New Zealand[120] and the top ten in 14 countries, including the UK where it landed at number two.[121] In Canada, it peaked at number six on the Canadian Albums Chart.[122]