The pop star has spent the four years growing up and slowing down – she speaks to Morning Edition about her new album and sound, including using her synesthesia like a creative scythe.

Transcript

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Ella Yelich-O'Connor, better known as Lorde, has released her third album. It's called "Solar Power." Since the age of 16, Lorde has been famous for getting in her feelings. She found a way through lyrics and sound to capture melancholy and despair just right. Many tracks on "Solar Power" do the same thing. But the title track, the first single, well, it kind of took a lot of people off guard because Lorde sounds happy.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOLAR POWER")

LORDE: (Singing) My cheeks in high color, overripe peaches - no shirt, no shoes, only my features - my boy behind me, he's taking pictures.

MARTINEZ: Lorde is now 24. And if self-awareness could be shown through art, there's a case for "Solar Power" as a reflection for where she's at in life.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOLAR POWER")

LORDE: (Singing) That solar power.

MARTINEZ: This song was inspired by summertime in Lorde's home country of New Zealand.

LORDE: I was feeling good. You know, I was at home with my girlfriends and felt like there was something kind of in the air down there. And I really wanted to capture that. But I've sort of since been told that the record taken as a whole is a lot more - there's a lot more depth to it or, you know, it's sadder than maybe people thought. And I think there's always shades to what I do, you know.

MARTINEZ: I talked with Lorde about those shades earlier this week. But before we get into it, I wanted to let her know how this interview was a career first for me.

This is going to be the first time in my entire life that I'm talking to another November 7 baby. So...

LORDE: (Laughter).

MARTINEZ: ...Welcome, fellow Scorpio. Happy birthday in advance because when it's your birthday, it'll be mine, too.

LORDE: Well, thank you so much. I love our special day. It's also Joni Mitchell's birthday. And I read in her biography that an astrologer told her once, it's the day of the discoverer and the week of depth, whatever that means. So you, me and Joni, you know?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FALLEN FRUIT")

LORDE: (Singing) To the ones who came before us, all the golden ones who were lifted on a wing.

MARTINEZ: You've said that "Solar Power" is a celebration of the natural world. How can we hear that in "Solar Power"?

LORDE: Well, I think there's a looseness and an organic quality that maybe hasn't made it into my previous albums. I felt very strongly about - like, I was born in '96. I feel like that mid-2000s kind of rootsy acoustic...

MARTINEZ: Yeah.

LORDE: ...Music really struck, like, an evil chord in me. In the past, I could never write a song on acoustic guitar ever, ever because I had this weirdness about the sort of built-in connotations. This time, I leaned hard into those.

MARTINEZ: Wait. What connotations are you talking about?

LORDE: I don't know. Maybe it's just 'cause of when I was born. But, like, at times in the past, I would hear an acoustic guitar and be like, oh, God, here we go (laughter). It's about to get, you know, painfully authentic (laughter) and earnest. But I love it now. I've come full circle.

(SOUNDBITE OF LORDE'S "FALLEN FRUIT")

MARTINEZ: Now, I wanted to ask about another song on the album, "Secrets From A Girl."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SECRETS FROM A GIRL")

LORDE: (Singing) Couldn't wait to turn 15, then you blink and it's been 10 years - growing up a little at a time, then all at once. Everybody wants the best for you. But you've got to want it for yourself.

MARTINEZ: It seems like maybe - are you talking to your 15-year-old self in this song?

LORDE: I am. I am.

MARTINEZ: OK.

LORDE: You're right. Yeah. I had this night out. And it was definitely one of those nights where I sort of saw the road fork off. I could have, like, really gone for it.

And, you know, it would have gotten to 4 in the morning. And it would've been a whole thing. And instead, I had two drinks, and I went home. I was lying in bed. And I thought to myself, whoa, you're kind of growing up. This is - you took the mature fork here in a way that, you know, your 20-year-old self or your 18-year-old self never would have.

And it sort of made me think about present me sort of going back and trying to talk to young me and sort of impart some of the wisdom that I (laughter) - I say "wisdom" in quote marks - have sort of picked up along the way, you know. So it was a fun - it's fun to think about your young self, especially as a young woman. I feel a huge amount of tenderness for just the chaos and the hormones and the strong feelings. I wanted to give her a big hug.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SECRETS FROM A GIRL")

LORDE: (Singing) Your dreams and inner visions, all your mystical ambitions, they won't let you down. Do your best to trust all the rays of light. Everybody wants the best for you. But you've got to want it for yourself - my love.

MARTINEZ: Yeah. I think everyone does that. I mean, I've thought to myself of things that I would say to the younger version of me - wondering then, what would you say to the older version of you, say, 30?

LORDE: (Laughter) Oh, that's a great question. I - well, I've sort of been in a zone at the moment of - I had a friend who I've known since high school sort of put his hand on my shoulder and say Ella, you're young. You're not old. You're young. So you need to go out. You need to kind of behave a little younger than you're behaving.

I really took that to heart and have been trying to, you know, stay up past 10 p.m., maybe go out to dance perhaps. So I think - I don't know. Hopefully, she's still doing that. Hopefully - maybe baby me can can put my hand on 30-year-old me's shoulder and say, (laughter), I don't know, you're young (laughter), or, you're 30 - get it together.

MARTINEZ: So you're at that great age, though, because me - I'm saying - I'm telling the older version of myself to make sure you write a will. That's where (laughter) I'm at in my life to make sure...

LORDE: Well...

MARTINEZ: ...That's all taken care of.

LORDE: ...I'm a pop star. So I have a will (laughter).

MARTINEZ: You have one. That's good (laughter).

LORDE: Isn't that wild? I've had a will for years, my friend (laughter).

MARTINEZ: Wait - for years?

LORDE: Yeah.

MARTINEZ: Before you were 20? - like, in your teens?

LORDE: Yeah. Absolutely. I'm a pop star. They tell you to write a will (laughter).

MARTINEZ: Man, you've got your act together.

LORDE: No wonder I'm so concerned with mortality and self-reflection, you know (laughter)?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOOD RING")

LORDE: (Singing) Now all of my oceans have riptides - can't seem to find what's wrong. The whole world is letting me down.

MARTINEZ: Lorde's new album is called "Solar Power."

Lorde, thank you very much.

LORDE: Thank you so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOOD RING")

LORDE: (Singing) Ladies, begin your sun salutations - transcendental in your meditations. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.