Pitchfork: Solar Power

[Thomas P 18,479]

Oh, and for the people who are dragging member’s who don’t like the record…why do you need to go to the place where you drag people for enjoying upbeat music? 

There’s nothing wrong with having a preference to dance or electronic music. And frankly a lot of the people who are criticizing the record are people who like artists like Lana and Phoebe, artists who release slower, more alternative albums, so your drags aren’t even fair .

No one has been hateful, they’ve just stated disappointment or dislike, something you’re allowed to do on a forum.

I like the album, but I completely respect, and agree with a lot of the very fair criticism coming at it. 

[Thomas P 18,479]

I love Lorde, I think she is one of the most important and vital musical artists to come out of the 21st century (argue with the wall), but this album is not my favourite. 

I do quite enjoy it, but Melodrama and Pure Heroine are such unbelievable highs that this doesn’t quite level up. That isn’t a bad thing, it actually takes a bit of the pressure off of her because she might not be held to the standard those records set, allowing her to really release whatever the **** she wants. 

Solar Power is a solid 7.5-8 for me and I can see it going up from there, but it just isn’t an album that is going to have a massive impact on my life the way the first two did, which is COMPLETELY okay. 

My early teens were completely shaped by Pure Heroine. It came out when I was 12, and I used it as a security blanket until I was 16 when my all time favourite album ever, Melodrama, came out. It ended up being the record that shaped my late teens and transition into university. I don’t think Solar Power is going to be the album that shapes my early 20s (tbh, Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers has been doing that), but that’s okay. I can still like an album by Lorde without it being a marker of my life. 

She’s one of the best songwriters of all time, this album even proves that with some of its best lyrics, but it just doesn’t have that instant culture shifting feel that her first two records have. (I’m still loving it though. This is her Chemtrails after an NFR for me). 

[Ladle Ghoulash 37,591]

7 hours ago, boyerased said:

There are good slow albums… personally this is not it. I just feel like it’s not grounded. I don’t know how to explain it without sounding pretentious. 

Completely agreed. Albums need a unifying concept and I don't think this has one. 

[eunino 1,502]

I don’t think it’s her best album but I really liked it. I don’t know if all these reviews are because people didn’t like the piece of art itself or because they don’t like this alternative genre specially when being done by a pop artist that they didn’t expect or wanted to be doing so.

 I mean, it did sound very Bowie, Beatles, Radiohead, Beach boys to me. And I am a huge fan of artists like them. Sonically, it’s a great experimental album and I am glad she took risks. She is so young and creative that it is not fair for us not to allow her to experiment with her sound.

It’s important for the sake of our own ears to have different stimulations sonically. And I feel the running for charts competition, the industry and these critics just want to force us to accept and value one sound. Pretty lame for artists who like making art.

[Fusel 1,109]

kind of excited to listen to this now cause i thought melodrama is generally overrated 

[River 122,611]

It's the first album that I like from her, idk if I agree with the score though, it's not a perfect album, but it is a beautiful album and one of the best this year imo, I listened to it once so far, but I'm sure going to listen more and grab my favorite songs out of it and finally add Lorde to my playlist.

 

[Lona Delery 7,226]

5 minutes ago, River said:

It's the first album that I like from her, idk if I agree with the score though, it's not a perfect album, but it is a beautiful album and one of the best this year imo, I listened to it once so far, but I'm sure going to listen more and grab my favorite songs out of it and finally add Lorde to my playlist.

 

mte, i only like 1-2 songs from her first two albums but solar power got quite a few tracks i like

[calpky 353]

I hope all of this negativity encourages an angsty, revenge album. Like, prove us wrong, show us that you still got it. Teleport us to Mars. 

... or just hire your old producers back. 

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

This album is literally a 9 for me. It’s perfection honestly. It’s a VERY specific style and if you don’t like it, you’re gonna hate it.

happily I grew up with music like this so it’s perfect

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

2 minutes ago, calpky said:

I hope all of this negativity encourages an angsty, revenge album. Like, prove us wrong, show us that you still got it. Teleport us to Mars. 

... or just hire your old producers back. 

Honestly I don’t want her to go back to that or do anything like that. This album was amazing and she needs to grow.

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

6 hours ago, Thomas P said:

No one has been hateful, they’ve just stated disappointment or dislike

Not true at all, I’ve seen many people hating on it and saying lorde was flopping.

6 hours ago, Thomas P said:

why do you need to go to the place where you drag people for enjoying upbeat music? 

People are dragging people who are sh!tting on that kinda music. Idc if you have a preference but when you’re calling the album names and saying it’s boring and ha substance solely bc of the  tempo, it’s annoying 

[JgHaus78 2,007]

If you loved Melodrama, a track on solar power that gives me those vibes is Big Star. The song is about her dog that passed away, but would come across as a breakup track if you didn’t read about it beforehand. 

[OhHenny2020 2,822]

The review isn’t surprising when the music isn’t good, especially after however many years. Lol. Maybe the final (meta) score will help keep the delulu’s in check. It’s boring music. An oxymoron. Music is supposed to make you feel things, and I feel nothing. 

[weed 76,977]

I'd give it a 9, it's really good. A timeless kind of album  gives me Joanna Newsom vibes

[Bjaf 1,336]

2 hours ago, calpky said:

I hope all of this negativity encourages an angsty, revenge album. Like, prove us wrong, show us that you still got it. Teleport us to Mars. 

... or just hire your old producers back. 

Jack Antonoff worked on both Melodrama and Solar Power though lmao

Anyway, love the album, I do believe the critics are a bit harsh, not as good or career-defining as Melodrama but not nearly as bad as critics are making it to be!

One thing I really don’t understand is people saying it all sounds the same. There’s so much variety lmao, just the contrast between Secrets From a Girl and Big Star makes that argument completely nonsensical, in my opinion. If anything, I would say the exact opposite: it seems like she drew from many inspirations (a mix of early-2000s bubblegum pop & 60s-70s folk), and they don’t always merge as cohesively as I’d hoped.