вЂњYour emotional baggage can be picked up at Carousel No. вЂњвЂ™Member what you thought was grief before you got the call?вЂќ) There is also a surrealist outro in which Robyn plays an airline stewardess whose spiel starts with her announcing, вЂњWelcome to Sadness!вЂќ Yes, that Robyn. (вЂњвЂ™Member all the hurt you would feel when you werenвЂ™t desired?вЂќ she sings now. Lorde is too charismatic, too shrewd, too industrious for вЂњSecrets From a Girl (WhoвЂ™s Seen It All)вЂќ to be an outright failure: From the title on down, thereвЂ™s a wry wink to it there is a bracing lyrical reference, one of several throughout the album, to her beloved dog, Pearl, whose 2019 death compelled Lorde to delay the album entirely. This is a lovely sentiment that results, alas, in a rather anodyne pop song. I took two of the chords from that song, reversed them, and this is future me talking back to her sort of saying вЂItвЂ™s going to be OK.вЂ™вЂќ вЂњI was so apprehensive about what was to come and about growing up and there was so much I didnвЂ™t know. вЂњI was listening to вЂRibs,вЂ™ which is a little weird of me, but I was, and just thinking about who I was at that time of life,вЂќ Lorde explains, in a track-by-track PR release. Growing up a little at a time then all at once The tradeoff now is being thrilled sheвЂ™s in a better place while fearing that sheвЂ™ll never make a better song there.ДЄnd so now, midway through Solar Power, we get a breezy little acoustic-guitar jam called вЂњSecrets From a Girl (WhoвЂ™s Seen It All),вЂќ which aims for the gentle majesty of Natalie ImbrugliaвЂ™s вЂњTornвЂќ but settles for mid-tier cardigan coffeehouse Taylor Swift and leans a bit too hard on generic (and algorithmic) Instagram uplift: And LordeвЂ™s wistful teenage lamentations (вЂњMum and Dad let me stay home / It drives you crazy getting oldвЂќ) that would sound ridiculous if she werenвЂ™t so deadly serious. The massed wail of breathy backing vocals that crests with my favorite high note of the past decade. Her electro-goth marvel of a debut album, Pure Heroine, delivers on that promise throughout-вЂњWeвЂ™re so happy / Even when weвЂ™re smiling out of fearвЂќ is still a killer line-but вЂњRibsвЂќ is the one. It is 2013, and Ella Yelich-OвЂ™Connor is 16 years old, and the malevolent hush of her shocking smash-hit debut single, вЂњRoyalsвЂќ-вЂњWeвЂ™re bigger than we ever dreamed / And IвЂ™m in love with being queenвЂќ-has made her 21st-century popвЂ™s most improbable and vital superstar yet. Take her at her word, even when it seems like she might be joking.

(OK, this record isnвЂ™t the end of the world.) WeвЂ™ll get through this together. She knows how that might sound-a little tuned out, a little pedantic-and yeah, sometimes it sounds like that. She just wants you to put your phone down and catch some rays. Most likely this uneasily blissful and banger-averse record isnвЂ™t what you want, but itвЂ™s clearly what Lorde thinks you need. But I figured IвЂ™d get that out of the way because I value your time, and so, quite earnestly, does she, though all the beachy and weedy and deep-spacey earnestness makes Solar Power somewhat of a sun-kissed bummer.

Not to bum you out, here on release day for the serenely restless New Zealand pop starвЂ™s third full-length, Solar Power.

The best Lorde song is still вЂњRibsвЂќ the best Lorde album is still Melodrama.

2022.03

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