At 16, Lorde's debut album was all gimlet-eyed precociousness with a side of cynicism; four years later, she delved into, well, melodrama for Melodrama. Now, at 24, she's lightened up and turned her focus to "mystical ambitions" and "inner visions." (And when Lorde, neé Ella Yelich-O'Connor, focuses, she really commits to the theme.) Solar Power is the sound of a questioning young woman wanting to find solace in a trendy brand of spirituality but not always able to shake off the sensation that it might all be a scam. "Mood Ring" adopts an easy-breezy Natasha Bedingfield vibe and sly little New Age guitar flourishes to send up the Instagram wellness culture Lorde readily admits to dabbling in. "Ladies, begin your sun salutations/ transcendental in your meditations," she sings. "I can't feel a thing/ I keep looking at my mood ring." The beachy, Caribbean-kissed "Dominoes" casts a devastatingly casual side-eye at an ex who's gone "all New Age" and is "doing yoga with Uma Thurman's mother just outside of Woodstock": "It's strange to see you smoking marijuana/ You used to do the most cocaine of anyone I'd ever met." Elsewhere, she sounds Joni Mitchell wistful and gets deep, musing how "all the beautiful girls, they will fade like roses" before checking herself: "Maybe I'm just stoned at the nail salon again." The title track finds true solace, though, in the healing power of the sun—not the "golden hour" of aspirational influencers, but high-in-the-sky, blinding, noontime brightness. "Lead the boys and girls onto the beaches/ Come one, come all, I'll tell you my secrets/ I'm kinda like a prettier Jesus," she sings, supported by peers Phoebe Bridgers and Claire "Clairo" Cottrill and carried by a lush Verve-style melody. "Secrets from a Girl (Who's Seen It All)" folks-out like cottage-core Taylor Swift, but to the point that it makes you wonder how much Taylor owes Lorde. The latter cleverly calls on Swedish pop star Robyn to inject a weird and humorous, psych-hazy spoken part—"Thank you for flying with Strange Airlines, I will be your tour guide today/ Your emotional baggage can be picked up at carousel number two." Also like Taylor, Lorde is good at offering fans just enough teases of intimacy: a reference to Carole King presenting her a Grammy (in the twinkling "California"); an ode to her two-decades-older boyfriend (who has an "office job" and "silver hair" and whose "favorite record [is] the same as my father's") in the tender and free-floating "The Man with the Axe." Even without those Easter eggs, Solar Power is a revealing portrait of a girl trying to figure it all out—all while seeming aware of just how much privilege she has. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz