Following the scratchy, summertime lead single, “Solar,” Lorde has released “Stoned at the Nail Salon,” an elegantly written, FOMO-laced, quarter-life-crisis ballad that could sit on the same shelf as Lana Del Rey or W.B. Yeats.
“Got a wishbone drying on the windowsill in my kitchen/ Just in case I wake up and realize I’ve chosen wrong.” And that’s just the first line.
The New Zealand singer-songwriter said she used the song as a “dumping ground” for uncomfortable thoughts and images about getting older. “[It’s] a sort of a rumination … on settling into domesticity, and questioning if you’ve made the right decisions,” Lorde said. “I think lots of people start asking those questions of themselves around my age, and it was super comforting to me writing them down, hoping they’d resonate with others too.”
“Stoned at the Nail Salon” appears on Lorde’s forthcoming third album, Solar Power, out August 20. Earlier this summer, she announced her 2022 world tour dates, which include her first North American leg since 2018 and is already sold-out.
Listen to “Stoned at the Nail Salon” and see the official Solar Power tracklisting below:
Solar Power tracklist
1. The Path
2. Solar Power
3. California
4. Stoned at the Nail Salon
5. Fallen Fruit
6. Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen It All)
7. The Man with An Axe
8. Dominoes
9. Big Star
10. Leader of a New Regime
11. Mood Ring
12. Oceanic Feeling
