What Makes Lorde’s ‘Solar Power’ So Divisive? —Hanif Abdurraqib Lorde’s big comeback single “Solar Power” set the internet ablaze when it dropped from out of nowhere in June. Some fans found the song to be a buoyant departure from Lorde’s last album release, 2017’s Melodrama, while others felt the track half-baked. On top of that, listeners questioned the song’s provenance — had Lorde cribbed too closely from ’90s hitmakers like Primal Scream and George Michael? To hear “Solar Power” clearly and unpack its polarizing sounds, Switched on Pop hosts Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding needed to speak to someone with an unerring ear and a razor-sharp mind: the author, poet, and host of