Solar Power by Lorde

Lorde is a New Zealand pop artist. She’s best known for her hit single Royals, but throughout her ten year career, she’s released three studio albums. After releasing her sophomore album Melodrama, it’s almost like she disappeared off the face of the earth. Fans would only get a few pictures every year, and her social media would stay inactive for the most part. However, everything changed in June 2021 when she revealed her fourth album named Solar Power.

The album was a huge shift, more upbeat than anything she had put out before. While many were taken aback by this change, one thing was apparent. In the years she spent away from the stage, she had grown. She was happy, mature and no longer expressed herself as the nihilistic sixteen-year-old we all once knew her as. 

The album is just as personal as her others. The only difference is it isn’t coming from a place of uncertainty or pain, this one is coming from a place of pure love for the world around her, her fans, the summer and herself. Something having to be depressing in order to be personal is a tired cliche. People grow, and things can get better. This album proves that Lorde grew into a confident and happy person and her long hiatus didn’t phase her one bit.

Neither did it phase the music industry, with an invite to the Met Gala, a Vogue article, and frequent interviews after her album release. 2021 was all about growth and change. Solar Power is the best album of 2021 because it was the very thing 2021 was all about and it was exactly what we needed. Many people had a difficult year, and the album was happy and light, celebrating the little things like nature and the sun. Solar Power is a celebration of life, and that’s what everyone needed when it was released in 2021.