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Lorde in "Fallen Fruit'
Courtesy ImageLorde reminds viewers that its humans' duty to protect the planet for future generations in her new "Fallen Fruit" music video, which she released on Tuesday (Nov. 2).
The video poignantly reminds us of the fragility of life on Earth, with the Garden of Eden metaphor referenced in the song's title leading to Lorde's main point that our greatest sin would be to leave our home uninhabitable for generations to come after us. But that is sadly already the case in the "Fallen Fruit" visual, as Lorde reveals that not everything on the island from her previous "Solar Power" music video will never remain peachy keen due to greedy human consumption that eventually leads to its demise.
"In the 'Solar Power' video, you were introduced to the island as a lush paradise — glistening water, blue skies, not a grain of sand out of place (barring that pesky beach trash)," Lorde said of the video in a statement. "Cut to: humans doing as they do, getting greedy, treating the land with disrespect and stripping it of its beauty. There’ll always another pristine place to start again, right? The gardens that were once lush and fruitful are now on fire. The fishing boats are busted up and overturned. All that’s left of the peaches are their pits. Amid all that, my character makes a choice."
"Fallen Fruit" comes from her third studio album and climate-conscious project Solar Power, which was released on Aug. 20 and topped Billboard's Top Alternative Albums chart and debuted at No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200. The song, which broke into the top 40 of the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs tally, features backup vocals from Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Marlon Williams and Lawrence Arabia.
Lorde confirmed on Tuesday that she will release a deluxe version of Solar Power this Friday, which will feature two bonus tracks -- "Helen of Troy" and "Hold No Grudge" -- that the New Zealand-born singer-songwriter described as the "black sheep" of her album.
"These songs were fun explorations on the album journey," she wrote in a newsletter to fans, according to NME. "They didn’t quite fit into the tracklist for whatever reason but they’re both big tunes."
Watch her "Fallen Fruit" music video below, and pre-save the expanded edition of Solar Power here.
At the BTS concert in Tokyo on Friday (April 17), j-hope opened up to ARMY with heartbreaking news. His grandmother, who played a major role in raising him and had always been proud of his journey with the group, has passed away.
Speaking to the packed crowd at the Tokyo Dome, the K-pop star chose to be open with fans about what he was going through. “Honestly, this might be a bit of a heavy thing to share, but I really wanted to express how I’m feeling today,” he said, translated from Korean into English. “Right after we arrived in Japan, I got the news that my maternal grandmother, the one who raised me from when I was little, had passed away.”
“I felt completely stunned and did not really know how to process it at first, but being around the members, sitting down together for meals, and focusing on rehearsals helped me more than I thought it would,” j-hope went on. “My grandmother was always incredibly proud, not just of me but of all the members. She truly believed in what we do. So I feel like if she was watching from above today, she would have loved every second of it.”
He closed by thanking the audience for making his first performance after the loss feel meaningful and full of support.
BTS are currently touring in support of their new album ARIRANG, which has just earned a third week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Following three opening shows in Goyang, South Korea, the group is set to perform twice at the Tokyo Dome before heading abroad for the North American leg. Before the tour wraps in March next year, they will also visit Latin America, Europe, Australia, and several other regions across Asia.
On the same day as the first Tokyo concert, j-hope’s solo interview with Rolling Stone was released. During the conversation, he spoke about stepping into a leadership presence within the group. “I think that’s my role on the team,” he shared. “It just comes naturally. It feels strange to even call it a role, but I just try to handle things as they come and support the other members in any way I can.”
Additional reporting from Billboard Korea.
