Lorde, the New Zealand singer-songwriter, has announced that her long-awaited third album, Solar Power, will be released on August 20th. The album is a celebration of the natural world and is a psychedelic effort of pop and indie folk driven by acoustic guitar arrangements. It is classified by Lorde as her marijuana album and marks a departure from the dance-oriented and synth-heavy music of her previous works. The track was briefly released by some streaming platforms around noon east on Thursday, June 10, however, it was removed almost immediately (along with the lyrics page “Solar Power Genius”).
Fans can pre-order, save and add the album here. To honor the natural world, the artist presents the album in a discless format, the first of its kind. Commercially, Solar Power reached number one in Australia and New Zealand, ranking in the top 10 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Scotland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The surprise of the pop star announced the title of the single and main album, Solar Power, on Monday, June 7, with an update to its website that included the now infamous photo of her butt as she jumps on the sand.
The album cover was shot by her “best friend Ofelia” who took the cover photo while lying in the sand and jumping on it. In an interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music 1, Lorde discussed the similarities between 'Solar Power' and 'Loaded' by Primal Scream. The album will be released in retail in what the singer describes as an eco-friendly, luxury CD-style package, albeit with a download code and no CD inside. Meanwhile, Lorde is a modern girl in a dead bikini who is in touch with her past and future and vibrates at the highest level when summer arrives. In the United States, Solar Power entered the Billboard 200 chart at number five with 56,000 units equivalent to albums moved, consisting of 34,000 album sales and 22,000 units calculated from the 28.38 million on-demand streams that the album received in its opening week. Lorde chose not to release CDs for environmental reasons freeing up solar energy for digital music platforms and streaming services.
The album will only be available as a vinyl LP.
