Solar Power: A message for all generations

Lorde's new album Solar Power is out and will leave no one, who dares to listen, indifferent. It is considered by Lorde herself as her "weed album". Solar Power is a psychedelic pop and Indie-folk effort driven by acoustic guitar arrangements, marking a new era for the singer-songwriter.

Despite all the incredible melodies and beautiful production of the whole album, I would like to talk a little about the brilliant artistry and deep meaning behind the lyrics of two of her songs: Mood Ring and Fallen Fruit.

The first song Mood Ring is the perfect combination of fun pop music and satirical lyrics with an important message.

Here we find amusing criticism on the Wellness Culture we live in, a product of capitalism that targets mostly women. The song was inspired by an essay published by author Jia Tolentino in The Guardian that criticizes a society that constantly advertises and sells this idea of ​​a woman who must be in a constant process of self-improvement. And this need for improvement feeds an economy constantly creating products for this purpose. As a woman myself, I admit to falling constantly on some of these traps, and there are many: Yoga classes, Crystal Cleansings, Superfoods, Special Diets, Detoxing, Meditations, Jade Rollers, Essential Oils, You name it. The lyrics say:

Pre-Chorus

Ladies, begin your sun salutations/ Transcendental in your meditations (Love and light)

You can burn sage and I'll cleanse the crystals/We can get high, but only if the wind blows (Blows just right)

Chorus

I can't feel a thing/I keep looking at my mood ring

Tell me how I'm feeling/Floating away, floating away

Here is the full essay, in case you are curious about it:

The title of the song Mood Ring refers to those rings that were said to change color depending on a person's mood. People would interpret the color matching it to a certain mood and then believe it as true, and just like a placebo effect, they would end up feeling that way and swearing by its effectiveness. Mood rings are also a good example of a product created by a capitalist society that keeps inventing problems and then comes up with solutions for them.

For a complete analysis of the Lyrics of the Song, here is a Lorde explaining them to the Genius Youtube channel.

The other song on the album that sends a direct message is Fallen Fruit. Brilliantly written, with harmonies that will give you goosebumps, Fallen Fruit was written for an older generation, Lorde's parents' generation (If you are 25 or older your parents, belong to the same generation), that grew unaware of climate issues and keeps ignoring warning signs of a climate crisis. The song mentions how generations before us prospered and thrived by carelessly overusing natural resources. The Lyrics, while extremely visual, are still very enlightening. Take a look:

Chorus:

And we will walk together (We will walk)

Psychedelic garlands in our hair

Through the halls of splendor where the apple trees all grew

You'll leave us dancing on the fallen fruit

The chorus paints the picture of a past full of splendor where nature was alive and blossomed whereas now all that's left is the damage done after selfishly taking from it. Fallen fruit can mean the death of nature, its final stage, a rotten image. It talks of the consequences of the climate crisis such as deforestation, endangered species, and global warming.

On the Bridge we hear Lorde talk :

From the Nissan to the Phantom to the plane

We'll disappear in the cover of the rain

Making a reference to how we went from cars to planes, producing huge amounts of CO2, which is the main contributor to global warming. The second line speaks of how climate changes and natural disasters, consequences of global warming, will end up killing humankind and other animals.

When it comes to melodies and production the song has a certain classic tone to it. We can hear the 70s inspiration and be reminded of legends such as The Beatles. For this reason, the song can be appreciated by any generation, which is a very clever strategy for the message to get to its recipients.

If you haven't heard it yet, here it is for you. Hope you'll like it as much as I did!