Lorde joins Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 to discuss her new song “Stoned at the Nail Salon” from her forthcoming album ’Solar Power’ due out on August 20th.
She tells Zane about the origin of the song and says it’s “definitely one of the quietest, most introspective, and internal moments” on the album. She explains the song was inspired by the slower daily rhythm she savours at home in New Zealand between tours and discusses getting off social media, "the joy of being left behind", the last time she listened to her debut album ‘Pure Heroine’, looking forward to performing with a large band, and more.
Lorde Tells Apple Music About Her New Song “Stoned at the Nail Salon”…
So this is pretty much all Jack, he just started playing everything. Playing bass, playing beautiful guitar, and then I arranged all the vocals. Had Phoebe, Clairo, and the boys come and sing. But yeah, it's definitely one of the quietest, most introspective, and internal moments on the record, but I thought it was cool to start with Solar Power and then to be like, "And also this." I think Jack thinks that I don't appreciate the song as much as I do. He's like, "You know it's really good, right? I'm like, "Ah, I do, I do," but you're right about being a vessel for it because it's a weird song to even talk about. It's about the passage of time, which is a weird thing to even think about and be in conversation with. But thinking about me at 16, my parents getting older, all these big, heavy things really confronting my mortality, I split off when I think about this song, but I am proud of it. I mean, it's such a thing you do when you get off tour. All of a sudden you've got nothing to do. You're around, and yeah, there were a lot of, I guess, I'm going to get stoned and pick up my dry cleaning. I guess, I'm going to get stoned and get my nails done. No one needs anything from me at home, and that's when I'm like, "Am I okay? Is everything okay?"And that's what the song was born out of, was that insecurity of feeling like, "Oh, no one's seen me in ages. I haven't posted a picture of myself looking cool." Like I'm being left behind, and obviously I leaned hard into that in the years that followed and it's my joy to be left behind now, in a way.
Lorde Tells Apple Music About Getting Off Social Media and Being An "Elder Statesman at 24"…
I realised I was trying to come up with a funny Instagram caption and do a photo of me that looked cool that I would hope would get a certain amount of likes. It sounds obvious, but that's cooked. For me, I'm not a girl that gets a bunch of likes. I'm who I am, and I've got to lean into that. I think for the last one I was 21 and still like the kids, and then the culture started to change and I didn't know that I wanted to change with it. I didn't know if I wanted to be a TikTok girl, an Instagram Stories girl, and it was a real crossroads. I had to be like, "Do you want to keep being the kids? Or do you want to transition through that and be something of an elder statesman at 24?" Which I really feel like I am now, which I love, but it took a minute. I felt a little like, "Oh no, I'm the kids?”
Lorde Tells Apple Music About Her Debut Album ‘Pure Heroine’…
I haven't listened to it in a minute, but I think I did maybe last year, and I totally was really proud of baby me. I was like, "This is awesome. Good on you. You were asking real questions of your world and you were a little scared and you were pretty tough and you were doing the thing." I remember being like, "Okay, okay. I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't change any of that.
Lorde Tells Apple Music About Looking Forward To Performing Live…
I mean, that's why it's going to be so sick to play the stuff live. And I have a huge band now. I went and hired eight band members. Yeah, we're like a real band.
