Behold the glory of Lorde .
Since emerging from a roughly four-year hiatus in June with her luminous, psychedelic single “Solar Power,” the two-time Grammy …
Behold the glory of Lorde. Since emerging from a roughly four-year hiatus in June with her luminous, psychedelic single “Solar Power,” the two-time Grammy winner has been omnipresent online: spawning memes with the song’s cheeky cover art and music video, thoughtfully answering “73 Questions” for Vogue, and getting delightfully day drunk with late-night host Seth Meyers. Her appearance on web series “Hot Ones” went viral, as she calmly sampled the spiciest wings on deck without breaking a sweat, earning the title “the Lorde of the Wings” from Twitter users. “I feel like it should’ve been a couple levels (hotter),” jokes the singer (real name: Ella Yelich-O’Connor), curled up by a window on a recent Zoom call. Traveling stateside from her native New Zealand to promote new album “Solar Power,” out now, “it’s such a different mode for me, coming from being at home to wearing makeup all the time and being on camera. But I’m enjoying myself. Full pop-star mode has been activated.” “Solar Power” marks Lorde’s third album and her first since 2017’s “Melodrama,” a Grammy nominee for album of the year. While “Melodrama” mined heartbreak and teenage revelry for its pulsing pop anthems, her latest 12-song effort is a decidedly mellower affair. Once again collaborating with producer du jour Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift, St. Vincent), her influences ranged from classic rock greats the Eagles and The Mamas & the Papas, to pop/R&B artists from her youth, including Natasha Bedingfield, TLC and All Saints. Their music “sounds so sunshiny and so outdoors,” says Lorde,24. And coming off an exhaustive world tour in 2018, she was in dire need of both those things. “I was tired after ‘Melodrama,’ ” Lorde admits. “It was a very intense album and I felt I’d given it my all.
