There’s something you should know! George Michael’s Estate says the late musician would’ve been perfectly happy with comparisons to Lorde’s new song, “Solar Power.”
In a statement posted to Michael’s website on June 18, the estate wrote: “We are aware that many people are making a connection between ‘Freedom ’90’ by George Michael and ‘Solar Power’ by Lorde, which George would have been flattered to hear, so on behalf of one great artist to a fellow artist, we wish her every success with the single.”
When the New Zealand singer-songwriter dropped “Solar Power” on June 10 — four years after she released Melodrama in 2017 — fans immediately compared the tune to Michael’s 1990 release “Freedom! 90.” “so lorde’s new song is a love letter to george michael and it is v. good,” tweeted one person after the song’s arrival. Added another, “started off the day w solar power and now i realize it sounds like freedom! ’90.”
Despite the similarities fans heard in the two songs, Lorde herself revealed the actual inspiration for the title track off her upcoming third studio album in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe … and it wasn’t the late Wham! singer’s song. It was something by rockers Primal Scream.
“I had never heard Primal Scream in my life. I’d been told to check them out,” she shared, adding that she realized while writing her song that it sounded like the band’s 1990 tune “Loaded.”
“It’s just one of those crazy things that, like, they just were the spiritual forebears of the song. I reached out to [Primal Scream singer] Bobby [Gillespie] and he was so lovely about it. And he was like, ‘You know, these things happen. You caught a vibe that we caught years ago.’ And he gave us his blessing,” she explained. “So let the record state ‘Loaded’ is 100%, the original blueprint for this, but we arrived at it organically. And I’m glad we did.”
Since releasing her latest single, Lorde has also shared cryptic teasers. The most recent came on June 20, when she posted a 20-second clip to her official website. In it, the singer — dressed in a beige outfit — sits cross-legged behind a small barrier of flowers and greenery on a beach. Nothing can be heard other than the sounds of nature. The video was simply captioned “Solstice.” Days earlier, she shared another clip, this one of rolling grassy fields that eventually reveals featuring the upcoming album’s initials cut into the green like crop circles: “SP.”
The artist shared in an interview with Australia’s Triple J radio that the new release will be inspired by nature. While speaking about the title track, she explained, “Every song on the album, I did say it has to sound like the sun, and this one in a big way.”
Listen to Lorde’s “Solar Power” and George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” below:
