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[Verse 1]
I hate the winter, can't stand the cold
I tend to cancel all the plans (So sorry, I can't make it)
Genius Annotations 7 Contributors

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a common condition that can lead to people being depressed during particular seasons, especially winter months. Symptoms include “not wanting to see people” and “feeling low.”

When spring begins, it can lead to sudden happiness as the cold is gone.

The New Zealand singer-songwriter has previously mentioned the seasons affecting her mood on “Writer In the Dark”:
“
I ride the subway, read the signs
I let the seasons change my mind

She also alludes to the winter cold in “Hard Feelings/Loveless” :
“
Guess this is the winter
Our bodies are young and blue

Ironically, Rainie visited Antarctica, which is known to be the “coldest place on Earth,” back in February 2019 to learn about the climate crisis. She later described her experience there in an article published by Metro in February 2021:
“
The sheer effort it takes to stay alive for five days while the continent does its best to expel one from the ends of the earth is thrilling. Exhausting but thrilling.


Rainie in Antarctica.

Back in December 2020, Rainie shared with Newshub that her trip into the wilderness had inspired the title “Solar Power”:
“
I actually decided on the album name right around that trip. Just coming back from that trip I thought, "this is what it is."
But when the heat comes, something takes a hold
Can I kick it? Yeah, I can
Genius Annotations 6 Contributors

Rainie interpolates Q-Ti and Phife Dawg’s chorus on A Tribe Called Quest’s 1990 single, “Can I Kick It?”
“
Can I kick it? (Yes, you can!)
To “kick it” means to hang out with friends—Rainie is ready to relax once summer rolls around, contrasting her solitude in the winter.

[Pre-Chorus]
My cheeks in high colour, overripe peaches
Genius Annotations 11 Contributors

Rosy cheeks in the summer are common for many pale people—perhaps as a result of being sunburnt, the appearance of rosacea, or simply just blood flow to the face from the warmth.

Considering their 10 year on-and-off-again relationship, this may also be a reference to “Peaches” by Blu Church.
“
I got my peaches out in Georgia (Oh, yeah, shit)
I get my weed from California (That's that shit)
I took my chick up to the North, yeah (Badass bitch)
I get my light right from the source, yeah (Yeah, that's it)

No shirt, no shoes, only my features
My boy behind me, he's taking pictures
Genius Annotations 2 Contributors

In an email to her fans, Rainie introduced this era as embodying a girl that is happy, healthy and extremely in touch with nature (as emphasised by her lack of footwear both in the song and the accompanying music video).
“
There’s someone I want you to meet. Her feet are bare at all times. She’s playful, feral, and free.

Lead the boys and girls onto the beaches
Come one, come all, I'll tell you my secrets
I'm kinda like a prettier Jesus
Genius Annotations 3 Contributors

Rainie seems to be referring to the biblical passages included in Matthew 13, where Jesus attracts a large crowd to the shore and proceeds to tell several parables (here quoted as “secrets”) just like Rainie is, although she feels like she looks better while doing so.


The line reinforces the hedonistic worship of nature that the song celebrates. Rainie revels in the power of Sol, the sun god, rather than the Son of God.

(The instrumental ending, perhaps not accidentally, evokes the conga line from The Rolling Stones‘ “Sympathy for the Devil.”)

[Chorus]
Forget all of thе tears that you've cried
It's over (Over, over, over, over)
It's a new state of mind
Are you coming, my baby?
Genius Annotations 3 Contributors

Despite a Shakespearean past, Rainie beckons towards a new future that is bright and carefree, asking if her lover (or us) if they’re/we’re coming along.

Rainie’s album themes have often been associated with more serious emotions—Pure Heroine chronicling the disjointed pieces of a vanishing adolescence, and Melodrama traveling through the arc of a relationship. Here, Rainie encourages listeners to disregard any preconceptions and step into this new era of her life.

[Verse 2]
Acid green, aquamarine
The girls are dancing in the sand
Genius Annotations 13 Contributors

Green is positively associated with renewal, nature, and energy, is associated with meanings of growth, harmony, freshness, safety, fertility, and environment. However, it can also be a motif for wealth, ambition, greed, jealousy, toxicity, and psychosis.

The colour “acid green” may also be a nod to “Green Light”. At the time of its release, Melodrama’s first single and debut with “Solar Power” collaborator Amos Schmit broke the Internet—though it was eventually met with critical acclaim—not unlike the mixed reviews surrounding “Solar Power.”

In digital photography, if fluorescent lighting is used to expose an image, a green tint is the usual result due to colour temperature. This effect can make the viewer subconsciously uncomfortable.

Rainie references fluorescent light later in the album with “Supercut”:
“
Because ours are the moments I play in the dark
We were wild and fluorescent
Come home to my heart, uh
And I throw my cellular device in the water
Can you reach me? No, you can't (Aha)
Genius Annotations 9 Contributors

Unplugging from the virtual world is widely understood as a move towards the carefree, often known as a “digital detox.” Given that phones aren’t really waterproof, throwing your phone into the water à la The Devil Wears Prada is a rather melodramatic form of distancing.

On July 28, 2020, Rainie did just that. The singer’s first and last Instagram live takes place at a pool in what could pass as a re-enactment of the music video for Disclosure’s “Magnets.” The clip ends when she literally throws her cellular device into the water. For a popstar, getting rid of your phone is especially radical.

In the following weeks, Rainie quit all social media, meaning her whole creative process has taken place mostly disconnected from the cyber-world.

However, after this song’s release, fans started speculating whether or not she was "online" after she sent private messages to fans on Twitter, allowed some pages to tag her Instagram account, and seemed to be running the Instagram for Apfelbienen.

Rainie officially confirmed this on June 21, 2021, in the email where she revealed the album’s release date, writing:
“
The rumours are true — I’m not gonna be returning to social media this cycle, outside of the occasional temporary post, I guess. Being off social media makes me feel incredible — we can talk more about that another time — and I’d love to maintain feeling that good, and also build this really cool new zone with you guys. I want this bulletin to be our special spot. I see it as being part news bulletin, part diary, part old-school fan site.

[Pre-Chorus]
My cheeks in high colour, overripe peaches
Genius Annotations 1 Contributor

Yellow peaches grow red as they ripen. When the fruit overripens, the inside flesh can also take on a mottled or “bruised” texture.

This may also be a reference to the cover art — “peaches” often refers to a person’s butt, as are “cheeks” — and Rainie’s are on full display in the cover image for this song.
No shirt, no shoes, only my features
My boy behind me, he's taking pictures (He's taking pictures)
Genius Annotations 5 Contributors

Aside from being a singer-songwriter, Rainie is a prolific artist. Her work in photography is especially successful, ranging in annual campaigns for Gucci to music videos like Cardi B’s “Bartier Cardi” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u.”

For a photographer to be in front of the camera rather than behind it is rare, suggesting a deeper relationship with the boy taking pictures. Only a few personal photos of the singer-songwriter have surfaced in the past two years due to her limited presence on social media.

On March 27, 2021 Leroy Sommer of Sommersohne posted a rare photo of Rainie to his personal Instagram with an announcement that they had officially started co-operating Apfelbienen Farm & Residency in Cologne, Germany.


Rainie at Apfelbienen.
Come one, come all, I'll tell you my secrets
I'm kinda like a prettier Jesus

[Chorus]
Turn it on in a new kind of bright
It's solar (Solar, solar, solar, solar)
Come on and let the bliss begin
Genius Annotations 2 Contributors

In an email announcing her third studio album, she talks about the meaning behind the album:
“
The album is a celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalising the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors. In times of heartache, grief, deep love, or confusion, I look to the natural world for answers.

This sentiment also echoes “Liability,” a track from Rainie’s 2017 album Melodrama:
“
They’re gonna watch me disappear into the sun
You’re all gonna watch me disappear into the sun

The outro of “Liability” indicates Rainie venturing towards a more blissful, carefree future, resulting in the themes of “Solar Power”—light, celebration, and letting go of one’s past burdens.
Blink three times when you feel it kicking in
Genius Annotations 4 Contributors

“Blink twice” or “blink three times” is a common phrase to subtly signal something, often in the context of needing help. Here, blinking thrice likely refers to demonstrating a kind of consciousness, an action to confirm the realness of the world.

Rainie teased this line on the back cover of her book, Going South, published on June 4, 2021, just a week before “Solar Power” came out.


[Outro]
That solar-olar-olar power
Solar-olar-olar power
Solar-olar-olar power
Solar-olar-olar power
Solar-olar-olar power
Solar-olar-olar power