After a strange upload and takedown of her first new single, “Solar Power,” Lorde is now back in business. Sharing the title track and first video for her third album cycle, the New Zealand singer-songwriter also shared a lengthy newsletter with more detail for fans shortly after the video officially dropped today. She let subscribers know that today is, fittingly, the only solar eclipse of the year, and confirmed that her third album will be a summer one. Solar Power is, according to its maker, “sexy, playful, feral, and free,” and a ” celebration of the natural world.”
Check out her full letter about the album below, and if you haven’t heard the first single yet, watch the “Solar Power” video above.
“You ready?
There’s someone I want you to meet.
Her feet are bare at all times. She’s sexy, playful, feral, and free. She’s a modern girl in a deadstock bikini, in touch with her past and her future, vibrating at the highest level when summer comes around. Her skin is glowing, her lovers are many. I’m completely obsessed with her, and soon you will be too.It’s my divine pleasure to be introducing you, at long last, to my third studio album, SOLAR POWER.
The album is a celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalising the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors. In times of heartache, grief, deep love, or confusion, I look to the natural world for answers. I’ve learnt to breathe out, and tune in. This is what came through.
The first song, also called SOLAR POWER and written and produced by myself and Jack, is the first of the rays. It’s about that infectious, flirtatious summer energy that takes hold of us all, come June (or December, if you’re a Southern Hemisphere baby like me but I know that’s literally IMPOSSIBLE for you all to wrap your little heads around so don’t worry about it!!).
I made everything with friends here in New Zealand. My best mate Ophelia took the cover photo, lying on the sand as I leapt over her, both of us laughing. The director who made my first ever music video, Joel, helped me create the videos, building an entire cinematic universe that I can’t wait for you to see. I made something that encapsulates where I’m from — my family, my girlfriends, my outdoors, my constant ruminations, and my unending search for the divine.
There’s SO much more detail to come — a truly comical amount of detail, honestly. You can look to the natural calendar for clues. I’m trying to listen to what’s out there more, and the vibe I got was that you’re ready for this, that you need it. I want this album to be your summer companion, the one you pump on the drive to the beach. The one that lingers on your skin like a tan as the months get cooler again.
Today’s the only solar eclipse of the year, did you know that? Feels right.
LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LET’S GO
SOLAR POWER TODAY — TOMORROW — FOREVER
ELLA XX.”