Lorde songs and buses have one thing in common: you wait over three years for one to arrive and then several seem to show up at once. Or at least that’s what eagle-eyed fans have decided. After returning from war with the exhilarating, special “Solar Power” barely a fortnight ago, Lorde’s little Liabilities (our unofficial stan army name; we are all, to some degree, quite mentally ill) have noticed her website has been updated with a video that appears to be shot on the same beach as the “Solar Power” video. The word underneath it may allude to a new song title: Solstice.
The video, which appeared yesterday ahead of today’s summer solstice (21 June), sees Lorde sitting cross-legged in front of a planter full of flowers, the names of which we cannot pinpoint but probably will reveal clues to the album’s tracklist or something. Behind her is a tent, like something from an old-world HBO drama, that’s giving us big “It’s 2021 but no one told us about smartphones and so we’re living like it’s 1403 up in here” vibes. M. Night Shyamalan, eat your heart out.
There’s been a lot of references to cults and a secret meaning with this record so far: the midsommar vibes of the “Solar Power” video, the deceptive nature of its lyrics (“I hate the winter / can’t stand the cold” the artist who wrote a book about Antarctica sings), alongside that Jonestown-esque line that may, in fact, be an allusion to the world succumbing to the climate crisis: “Blink three times when you feel it kicking in”. Perhaps whatever “Solstice” winds up being will reveal more about that concept — or even that it’s true.
All of the signs are pointing to Solar Power the album being a record about climate change, with the ‘cult’ perhaps being us: blind-sided by beautiful summer weather and basking in the rays while overlooking the real issues (she does mention “acid green” in her summer colour palettes on “Solar Power”, which seems incongruous to the seaside-y “aquamarine”).
The one thing Lorde has mentioned already is that the lead single for her albums is usually a bait-and-switch for what’s to come, so maybe, if “Solstice” is a song, it’ll sound completely different to what we’ve heard already. Are we ready for the sad bangers about the world ending? Sign us the fuck up.