Lorde Reveals ‘Painful’ First Reaction To ‘Solar Power’

On the of her highly-anticipated third studio album, Solar Power, Lorde got real with fans in a newsletter about the mixed reviews the record got.

Along with a new music video for "The Path," the 25-year-old singer shared her feelings, writing, "It’s been a year since I announced the release of Solar Power. I can honestly say it has been the year with the highest highs and lowest lows I think I’ve ever experienced."

"It took people a while to get the album — I still get emails every day from people who are just coming around to it now! — and that response was really confounding and at times painful to sit with at first," she admitted. "I learned a ton about myself and how I’m perceived by making and releasing this album, and I feel significantly more connected and alive in my art practice and life than pretty much ever before. Sounds dry but it’s true!!!"

Lorde went on to explain that despite mixed reviews, she is thankful for her fans and that she thinks the album was necessary for her growth and evolution as an artist. "I was sitting with a friend recently drinking chai at a country house in England, she’s an artist too, and we got on to the topic of the album somehow. She said, it’s clearly one of those works that gets made between peaks, the kind that’s necessary for makers sometimes, no less precious, in fact, there can’t be peaks at all without such works. I think this is true of the record. I needed to go low, to roll a neon ball through tall grass and see what happened. Playing songs from SP live each night in what is undoubtedly my best live show ever is also an incredible feeling — it all makes sense there, both to you and me, in a new and vivid way. And thanks to SP, I’ve been able to work through some big personal stuff that was making it pretty difficult for me to do stuff like travel or play shows without getting completely overwhelmed."

As for her summer solstice treat, Lorde said of her sixth music video, "The Path," that the video represents the "first chapter in the mystical Solar Power story, a prequel to the title video. You see my character joining her friends and family on the island where they’ve chosen to start life anew, arriving in her trademark suit and quickly being transformed by nature’s strange magic. I’m so proud of my buds for learning the dance in this one. Hope you like it."

Watch the new music video for Lorde's "The Path" below:

Lorde's Solar Power released today, after four years since her last album, Melodrama. Inspired by experiences in the sun, Lorde took an environmental approach to the release of her new music -- she isn't going to be selling any physical CD's, being fully carbon neutral.

Watch the music video for one of the most well-received songs on the album, "Mood Ring" below:

One user pointed out the song title names reflecting solar power, with "Fallen Fruit" being food insecurity, while "The Man with the Axe" is deforestation, "Dominoes" is continuous environmental degradation, "Big Star" is a waning sun, "Leader of a New Regime" is eco-fascism and "Oceanic Feeling" is the melting icecaps.

This fan kept it simple with a very helpful thread for those who don't like Solar Power: get therapy.

The album cover may evoke youth and happy times, but as this fan points out, it gets quite sad.

One fan quoted the line, "Forget all the tears you cried, it's over" from the song "Solar Power." This gif of a mustached man crying totally sums it up.

As many of us went into listening to the album, there wasn't any forewarning on just how sad some of the songs would be like this meme illustrates.

One fan credited Lorde for making one of the best albums they've heard this year.

One fan tweeted a series of inspirational and motivational growth photos to summarize how it felt after listening to the album.

Many fans raved about the 11th song appearing on Solar Power, with the music video released earlier this week.

As this fan points out, Lorde wrote the song "Big Star" for her dog Pearl so that he'd know how much she loves him and "I don't know how to finish this album without pausing every five minutes."

"pure heroine was lorde’s growing up album and melodrama was her growing pains album and solar power is so clearly lorde finally settling into herself," one fan said.