Lorde Says ‘Solar Power’ Isn’t a ‘Big Climate Change Record’

Her upcoming album may be titled Solar Power, but Lorde doesn’t want people to think it’s a grand statement about global warming. During a recent interview with the Guardian, she clarified that the project is not a “big climate change record.”

“I’m not a climate activist, I’m a pop star. I stoke the fire of a giant machine, spitting out emissions as I go. There is a lot I don’t know,” the 24-year-old admitted. According to the article, there is one “protest song” on the album called “Fallen Fruit,” but Lorde would rather go the route actor Mark Rylance suggested, that artists should tell love stories about the climate.

“The opposite has been proven not to work,” she said. “I do think these songs are love stories more than anything. But love is complicated.”

Though Solar Power won’t be a politically-charged project, Lorde is packaging it in an eco-friendly way.

“The album is a celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalizing the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors. In times of heartache, grief, deep love, or confusion, I look to the natural world for answers. I’ve learned to breathe out, and tune in. This is what came through,” she said in a statement. “I decided early on in the process of making this album that I also wanted to create an environmentally kind, forward-thinking alternative to the CD. I wanted this Music Box product to be similar in size, shape and price to a CD, to live alongside it in a retail environment, but be something which stands apart and that’s committed to the evolving nature of a modern album.”

Solar Power is slated for an Aug. 20 release. Lorde plans to tour in support of the album next year. See a full list of dates here.