Inspired by the death of her retriever mix dog Pearl and visit to Antarctica in 2019, the album was written with producer Jack Antonoff to capture solipsism and summer escapism, mainly focused on Lorde's leisure time in her homeland New Zealand, simultaneously expressing her disdain for fame and celebrity culture.

Classified by Lorde as her "weed album", Solar Power is a psychedelic pop and indie folk effort build around acoustic guitar arrangements, marking a departure from the electronic-based music of her previous works.

[2] The album was led by its lead single and title track, "Solar Power", followed by "Stoned at the Nail Salon", "Mood Ring", and "Fallen Fruit".

Lorde opted against manufacturing CDs for environmental reasons, releasing Solar Power to digital music platforms, streaming services, and as vinyl LPs only.

After concluding the North American leg of the Melodrama World Tour in May 2018, Lorde cleared out all her social media, leaving only three Instagram pictures and two tweets visible on her accounts.

[3] In November 2018, Lorde revealed in an email sent to fans via her newsletter subscription that she started learning how to play the piano and was outlining ideas for her forthcoming record.

[4] The singer made her first public performance since the conclusion of her tour in April 2019 at a benefit concert for victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings, which had occurred the previous month.

Later that year, Lorde disclosed that she was indefinitely postponing work on her album due to the death of her dog Pearl, a retriever mix, after he suffered two cardiac arrests.

[6] To prepare for the harsh weather conditions, the singer was required to receive vaccinations, pass medical exams, and wear ECW gear before boarding an army jet.

[8] Two months later, the singer announced via her subscription newsletter that she was finishing Solar Power, still untitled at the time, and that she kept in communication with American producer Jack Antonoff, who assisted in the songwriting and production of her previous record.

[9] In July 2020, American producer Malay, who co-produced three songs on her last album, revealed to Reverb that he flew frequently to New Zealand to work with Lorde before the COVID-19 pandemic.

[30] In some markets, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Lorde's buttocks are censored by a bright sunlight lens flare.

[30] Similarly, Jenessa Williams, writing for The Forty-Five, wrote that the image posed a "distinct challenge to society", as it tests reactions to "risqué female-made expressions of bodily autonomy.

The Washington Post stated that her vocals were placed "more centrally in the mix",[33] while Stereogum described them as "gorgeous", noting that they sounded different from her usual "breathy, heavy intonations" of her previous works.

American singers Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers as well as New Zealand artists Marlon Williams and Lawrence Arabia contribute background vocals on the majority of the album.

[46] Lorde credits her dog Pearl and the 1974 nonfiction narrative book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by American author Annie Dillard for her interest in reconnecting with nature.

[53] Lorde began writing the fourth track, "Stoned at the Nail Salon", six months after finishing the Melodrama World Tour, and recorded it in Antonoff's home studio.

Lorde considers the track to be a response to her 2013 song "Ribs", with the former reversing the primary chords of the latter's verses and the lyrics containing future wisdom wrought from lived experience.

[21] The following track, "Dominoes", was recorded at Electric Lady Studios with the doors open, which contributed non-diegetic and unintended sounds from outside to the final production, including audible police sirens.

[62] A satire of material pursuits for emotional clarity, the lyrics contain references to popular New Age pseudoscience practices, including crystal therapy,[63] Sun Salutations,[58] sage-burning,[63] meditation,[63] and astrology.

[67] Lorde teased new music in 2021 as a gift to fans in an October 2020 Instagram Stories post if they voted in New Zealand's general election as well as the cannabis and euthanasia referendums.

[68] The following month, she announced the release of Going South (2021), a memoir documenting her visit to Antarctica in early 2019, stating that the book served as a precursor to her upcoming album.

[81] To promote Solar Power, Lorde embarked on a world tour, with several opening acts, including Remi Wolf, Williams, Japanese Breakfast, and Muna.

[85] Instead, she released an eco-friendly "music box" with handwritten notes, merchandise designs, bonus songs, additional mailing list updates, exclusive photographs, and other content.

[90] Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic hailed the album as a "near masterpiece", admiring its social critique and simplistic instrumentation,[98] while NME critic Rhian Daly called it a "dazzling hat-trick from a master of her craft".

[42] Rolling Stone critic Brittany Spanos branded it a "smooth and beachy" record that has Lorde search for peace whilst meandering through her quarter-life crisis.

[40] Observing influences from the Doors and the Mamas & the Papas, Lucy Harbron of Clash underlined Solar Power was not a "fully sun-soaked album", but rather "sun-stroked", delivering her usual introspection under a "bright and hazy" tone.

[99] In her Consequence review, Abby Jones called it "pleasant background music", citing static production and clumsy pop culture references as its flaws, nevertheless.

[34] Evening Standard's David Smyth, The Independent's Helen Brown, and David Cobbald of The Line of Best Fit all gave two star reviews: Smyth felt the songs on Solar Power "seem to take pride in their lack of ambition",[93] Brown dismissed it as a disappointing, tuneless "collection of heat haze hippy noodlings", deficit of memorable hooks,[94] while Cobbald deemed it Lorde's fall from grace.

[117] On 9 September 2021, Lorde released a five-song companion EP to Solar Power titled Te Ao Mārama, meaning "World of Light" in Māori.