Lorde, Now Fully Adulting, Embraces A Folksy Analog On 'Solar Power'

Ella Yelich-O'Connor, known to the world as Lorde, is embracing a sunnier and more analog sound, full of plucked acoustic guitars and brushed snares. Since releasing her breakout single, "Royals," in 2013, she's made the most of hook-heavy pop songs constructed from a palette of overcast electronic sounds.

"In the past," she says, "I'd hear an acoustic guitar and I'd say 'Oh, here we go. It's about to get painfully authentic!' "

The title of her new album, Solar Power, belies the stylistic sea change; after years spent as a famous and famously melancholic artist, she's now singing of sun salutations and meditations. In a new video, above, she and friends frolic on a beach in her home of New Zealand – far from the late-night troublemaking of 2017's "Green Light."

"I was feeling good, you know?" she says. "It felt like there was something in the air down there, and I really wanted to capture that. But I've sort of since been told that taken as a whole, the record has a lot more depth to it. It's sadder than people thought. There's always shades to my work."

To catch up, 's A Martinez asked Lorde what the past four (relatively quiet) years have entailed, and how she arrived at this