Grammy award-winning artist Lorde has released two new bonus tracks entitled “Helen of Troy” and “Hold No Grudge” off of her critically acclaimed album Solar Power. In addition to the release of these two new tracks, she has also released a music video for “Fallen Fruit.”
Lorde’s Solar Power bonus tracks both maintain a similar washed-out tone with the melodic background instrumental driving the songs forward. While both tracks exhibit her heavenly vocal harmonies, “Hold No Grudge” additionally unveils a catchy percussive beat keeping the listener on their toes.
In a press release, Lorde spoke about both tracks stating, “These songs were fun explorations on the album journey. They didn’t quite fit into the tracklist for whatever reason but they’re both big tunes.”
In reference to “Helen of Troy,” Lorde said, “We wrote it super quickly in the tiniest room at Westlake where we did a bunch of Melo and it was fun the whole time. It’s super off the cuff lyrically, almost ad-libbed, and you can hear me starting to figure out some album themes.” On the other hand, “Hold No Grudge” is referred to as “a sort of composite portrait of when relationships turn sour, being trapped in the ice but remembering the warmth.” Listen to the Solar Power bonus tracks below.
The music video for “Fallen Fruit” illustrates a stark contrast as Lorde is seen walking through a utopian oceanside commune that jumps back and forth between harmony and tyranny in a dark comparison between day and night.
When talking about the music video in a press release, Lorde said, “In the “Solar Power” video, you were introduced to the island as a lush paradise — glistening water, blue skies, not a grain of sand out of place (barring that pesky beach trash…). Cut to: humans doing as they do, getting greedy, treating the land with disrespect and stripping it of its beauty. There’ll always be another pristine place to start again, right? The gardens that were once lush and fruitful are now on fire. The fishing boats are busted up and overturned. All that’s left of the peaches are their pits. Amid all that, my character makes a choice.” Watch the music video for “Fallen Fruit” below.
Back in September, Lorde released a companion EP to Solar Power titled Te Ao Mārama which is entirely sung in Māori, the Indigenous language of New Zealand. Lorde is set to embark on her world tour for Solar Power this coming year.
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna