Leave It To Lorde
We all remember the songs that stopped us in our tracks, made us pull over, took our breath away. One of those for me was “Fast Car.” When I first heard it on MTV from an adjacent room in my NYC Apt. I hightailed down Broadway to Tower Records to buy the cassette. I was surprised to find that Tracy Chapman was female. Cool!
Decades later “Fast Car” has passed the test of time. Speaking of time, so has “Time After Time,” “Torn,” “Don’t Dream It’s Over.” Classics.
I’m older now but songs still have the power to melt me to pieces. Last week it was John Mayer’s “Shouldn’t Matter But It Does.” There’s nothing unusual about it per se except for the fact that it’s so effing poignant and superbly written. (“Baby #3”?) It doesn’t break rules — just gives us heartfelt ingredients on steroids within a conventional structure. And he makes it sounds so easy. It’s just not fair. And he’s quite unbelievably adorbs. And the hair! And sings like…but I digress.
My daughter brought to my attention, as she often does, Lorde’s “Solar Power.” I called it up to take a deeper dive.
Lorde did it for me once before in a big way with “Royals.” Her minimalist production and understated vocals might have caught the ear of Billie Eilish as well (just sayin’) but for me it was more about her uncanny ability to capture youthful-immortal culture. Her use of furniture (as it’s called it in Nashville) — the details, the things, objects used to describe, perks up our ears. (Billboard ’s Jason Lipshutz calls it “personalized knickknacks.” — Perfect analogy!) And her soft-rhyming is clever and fresh. Her cheeks are “overripe peaches” which lead us to “features” “pictures,” “beaches,” “secrets,” and finally “Jesus.” Nice. No fires/desires (yawn), you/too/view/new. Please dazzle me with rhymes I’ve never heard before. Songwriters — check your work. (They don’t have to be hard rhymes like in musical theatre, in fact its better if they’re not!).
Co-written with the the super-gifted Jack Antonoff, who hails from the Bleachers (not literally — it’s a band) and has made magic with Taylor Swift on Folklore, I can’t help but credit the lyrics of “Solar Power” to Lorde because they’re very similar in style to “Royals.” She also did us all a big favor in “Royals”: As I wrote in my 2016 memoire “She put the kibosh on putting one’s hands in the air once and for all, for soon after she mocked the overuse of the popular call-to-action, everyone lowered their arms.” I was grateful. You probably were too.
These days it’s unusual for a pop star to do it for me twice. Too many algorithms make it hard to be/stay unique.
“Solar Power” is a summer song. Carefree. Optimistic. Up-lifting. Therapeutic without being obvious or cheddar (songwriter-speak for ‘cheesy’). Summer-spirited songs can be a smart marketing plan for a new release. The down-side though is that often they only last for the summer. (The Beach Boys on the other hand, did a pretty good job of writing summer songs with lives that extended far beyond the season.)
My favorite part of “Solar Power” is what I think is the B-section. But who knows. Maybe it’s the chorus: “Forget all the tears that you cried it’s over,” I think 🦠 we know 🦠what she’s referring to 🦠but alas, she might have spoken too soon. (So have many-a-TV ads ‘welcoming us back.’ Not so fast.) That said, “It’s over” can be taken as any pre-summer-bummer worth moving on from.
But if that’s the B-section…what’s the chorus? I know, I know — all sections of songs aiming for the charts need to be ‘hooks’ but there still needs to be a star of the show. Right???
Conventional structure has been given a run for its money. I’m still of the ilk however, that you should know the rules before you can break them effectively. As listeners we’re accustomed to a certain emotional arc in a song and if we’re denied it we may feel as if something’s missing — the vegetable in a meal that’s supposed to be nutritionally balanced. A starter or Or dessert!
At only 2 minutes she’s finishing up by chanting “Solar Power” — an infectious George Michael-esque release. Or is that the chorus? But if it is, it only occurs once.
At first listen ‘Solar Power’ seemed like an idea conjured by someone who painted herself into the corner and needed a title. ( I know the feeling.) But of course, solar power is the healing element of the sun’s energy. A perfect pay-off, actually.
As for the ambiguous structure goes…I guess I have to embrace it especially if I’m satisfied when the song is over. And I am. It was a fun ride. Nothing wrong with fun.
Is “Solar Power” the best song in the world? No. Of the year? Probably not. Up there with “Shouldn’t Matter But it Does”? Not even close. Maybe it didn’t completely blow my mind but I’ll give it a 2021 Honorable Mention. Let’s see if it lasts for longer than a summer.
This is really good:
But this is amazing. I can’t even…. (And no furniture!)
PS (BTW, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” got the most votes when I solicited opinions a few weeks ago for best pop song ever).
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