Robyn Lends Vocals to Lorde’s New Album ‘Solar Power’
Four years after the release of her second studio album, Melodrama, Lorde is back with new music. Her latest album, Solar Power, features twelve songs that hit a surprising new energy for the singer. A number of recognizable names back Lorde’s vocals in the newly released album. Notable among them is the pop artist Robyn, who is a surprise addition at the end of “Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen it All).”
Lorde releases new album ‘Solar Power’
Solar Power is Lorde’s third studio album, following Pure Heroine and Melodrama. She wrote and produced Solar Power alongside musician Jack Antonoff.
The long-awaited album is a major departure from the dark emotion of her first two albums. Solar Power is acoustic, breezy, and, at times, surprisingly sunny. It borrows from the 1970s Laurel Canyon sound and early 2000s soft pop — a comparison to Sheryl Crow or Natasha Bedingfield wouldn’t be unfounded.
In the album’s final song, “Oceanic Feeling,” Lorde addresses the tonal shift: “Now the cherry-black lipstick’s gathering dust in a drawer/I don’t need her anymore.”
“The album is about the passing of time and being OK with that,” she said to Apple Music. “All my work is sort of about that. All these works are just me trying to ask a series of questions. And if that makes people ask their own questions of their world, then I’ve done a good job.”
Robyn has a surprising feature
Lorde is not the only artist featured on the new album. The Swedish pop artist Robyn joins on the song “Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen it All).” At the very end of the song, Robyn speaks over the music in a dreamy, echoing voice. She serves as a sort of spiritual flight attendant at the close of a song Lorde wrote to her younger self.
“Welcome to Sadness,” Robyn says softly. “The temperature is unbearable until you face it.”
Of the song, Lorde told Apple Music, “To me it’s very Eurythmics meets Robyn. And then we got Robyn to do the incredible spoken part. She’s someone I have learned a huge amount from, through song. She really completed the experience.”
Robyn has been active in the music industry since 1995 with the release of her first album Robyn is Here.
Other artists on Lorde’s new album
Lorde’s latest album features other vocal additions. Musical artists Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers provide backing vocals on many of the album’s tracks, including the three singles, “Solar Power,” “Stoned at the Nail Salon,” and “Mood Ring.”
“I was like, ‘Who are my most God-tier female vocalist friends that could be on this?’” Lorde said to Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s New Music Daily. “And they both just crushed. It was such a pleasure for me to have them.”
