{"id":77530,"date":"2021-09-01T13:45:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T18:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=77530"},"modified":"2021-09-01T13:45:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T18:45:46","slug":"solar-power-vs-happier-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2021\/09\/01\/solar-power-vs-happier-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Power vs. Happier Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ellynn Mayo | @<\/a>ellynnspeaks<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hot Girl Summer is almost over, but she\u2019s leaving us with a gracious helping of albums from powerful young women. Billie Eilish released \u201cHappier Than Ever,\u201d a highly anticipated album by fans of the singer. Lorde also dropped \u201cSolar Power,\u201d which had been teased since 2019 but delayed after the death of her dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two albums, which were released quite close to each other, represent two very different times in two very different lives. On one hand, Billie Eilish is a 19-year-old releasing a highly-produced sophomore album. Lorde is 24 and taking a step back from the spotlight she\u2019s enjoyed since age 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eilish\u2019s album carries themes of lost love, finding confidence, and acknowledging the future. It\u2019s a journey that begins with the song \u201cI\u2019m Getting Older,\u201d in which she sings about how \u201cthings [she] once enjoyed just keep [her] employed now.\u201d This reflective opening song sets the tone of the album to a different tune from her other albums \u2014 which have featured a lot of heartache and anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next few songs exude confidence, from \u201cI Didn\u2019t Change My Number\u201d to \u201cmy future.\u201d We\u2019re not hearing the discordant sadness and frustration from Eilish just yet. She also pauses for more intense and flirty numbers like \u201cOxytocin\u201d and \u201cNDA.\u201d Though the album comes together quite nicely, it features a number of different themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title song \u201cHappier Than Ever\u201d begins tauntingly, \u201cWhen I\u2019m away from you, I\u2019m happier than ever\u2026\u201d The track begins softly, reminiscent of the classic Billie-style ukulele tunes. As it progresses, the song becomes accusatory and angry. It ends with a powerful phrase belted out: \u201cJust f****** leave me alone!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A criticism I have of the album, which isn\u2019t necessarily on Eilish\u2019s talent or the quality of the tracks, is the final message at the end. The album is full of messages about moving on, growing up, and coming into confidence. But the final stanza is, \u201cCan’t get over you\/No matter what I do\/I know I should but I could never hate you.\u201d To me, that feels like a strange way to end the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it could also be to illustrate that recovering from heartbreak (especially after an unhealthy relationship) is a long and strenuous process. Even though progress might be made, it\u2019s just as easy to slide back down the hill afterward. Either way, this album is stunning and exactly what the world needed from Billie Eilish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lorde album has caught a lot of flack. I\u2019ve seen headlines that attack everything about it, from Jack Antonoff\u2019s influence to fears that maybe Lorde\u2019s lost her spark. I refuse to agree with such aggressive criticism for a woman who\u2019s had multiple hit songs since she was 16 years old. Women are constantly told what to do in the music industry, and I fear that if we let that message continue, we won\u2019t ever get to see the magical \u201cother sides\u201d of artists we know and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have Spotify, you might know about a feature it has that shows you cards underneath songs, if the artist chooses to input them. Solar Power<\/em> employs this feature, and it helped me understand a bit more about the album. Lorde said she was inspired by flower children from the 70s, which right away, explains a lot of the softness and the content of the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the title song was released with the music video, I read the comments. Surprisingly, an awful lot of them said \u201cHey, this looks like the cast of Midsommar<\/em>.\u201d This made me laugh because if you\u2019ve seen Midsommar<\/em>, you know how incredibly terrifying and not at all like Lorde\u2019s music video it is. But to me, the song \u201cSolar Power\u201d represents coming out of a rut and getting into a creative groove again. It\u2019s not just a seasonal, but a proverbial summer for the whole world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solar Power<\/em> flirts with serious topics and lots of humor. One of the tracks, \u201cMood Ring,\u201d makes fun of the metaphysical and new age cultures \u2014 saying they don\u2019t take well-being seriously but see it as a trend. Additionally, the ever-so-reflective \u201cStoned at the Nail Salon\u201d reaches deep into Lorde\u2019s progression as an artist. It contains these powerful lines: \u201cWell my hot blood\u2019s been burning for so many summers now\/It\u2019s time to cool it down\/Whatever that means.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those lines signal to the listener that maybe she wants to take a break from music for a while, or change directions from the kind of music she\u2019s made before. This strikes a chord for me, but audiences who don\u2019t read into this might get frustrated. They may expect to hear the darker, more wild sides of this artist who truly has an incredible range that transcends genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also expresses great fears of how the world is changing due to a warming climate in songs like \u201cFallen Fruit\u201d (my personal favorite) and \u201cLeader of a New Regime.\u201d In fallen fruit, she writes in accusation, \u201cBut how can I love what I know I am gonna lose?\/Don’t make me choose.\u201d She challenges those who have the power to do better for future generations. And the name of the album, a renewable energy source, suggests that we should do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final song, \u201cOceanic Feeling,\u201d says it all for me. \u201c\u200b\u200bI know you’re scared, so was I\/But all will be revealed in time.\u201d \u201c\u200b\u200bNow the cherry black lipstick’s gathering dust in a drawer\/I don’t need her anymore\/\u2019Cause I got this power.\u201d \u201cOh, was enlightenment found?\/No, but I’m trying, taking it one year at a time.\u201d Although it\u2019s nowhere near as energetic as her other music, this rings true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spoken word poem in Happier Than Ever<\/em> is called \u201cNot My Responsibility,\u201d and it, too, illustrates my point. Eilish asks questions like, \u201cWould you like me to be smaller, weaker, softer, taller? Would you like me to be quiet?\u201d She is begging the audience why they must continuously force their expectations onto her when she never asked for them. It finishes with a breath of fresh air, asking, \u201cIs my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me\/Not my responsibility?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women in competition with one another cannot thrive in a world where non-women tear them down on principle. So instead of this album battle having a loser, I think they both win for being strong releases from strong artists. And I will be listening to both of them for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellynn compares two shiny new albums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":77531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3235],"tags":[3135,8686,8687],"class_list":["post-77530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-music-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-billie-eilish","tag-lorde"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/BillieLordeAlbumBattle.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77533,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77530\/revisions\/77533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}