The second single from New Zealand pop singer Lorde's third album Solar Power has the curious title, "Stoned at the Nail Salon."
The chorus goes:
'Cause all the beautiful girls, they will fade like roses
And all the times they will change, it'll all come around
I don't know
Maybe I'm just stoned at the nail salon
Maybe I'm just stoned at the nail salon again
The first single, the title track, features Lorde hitting a pipe made out of a fennel bulb. "I took your standard apple bong and made it a bit more chic, a bit more me," she said in June when the album and video were released. "I'm sure if you hit it for long enough the fennel would begin to roast."
She sings:
Turn it on in a new kind of bright
It's solar (solar, solar, solar)
Come on and let the bliss begin
Blink three times when you feel it kicking in
Lorde voted in the New Zealand cannabis legalization referendum in 2020, which lost by a 51%-49% margin. "Everyone knows it's a yes," she confided.
Possession and use of cannabis in New Zealand is illegal and punishable by three months in jail and/or a $500 fine. Sales and cultivation receive much heavier penalties.
According to NORML NZ:
• New Zealand has one of the highest rates of use in the world: 52% of New Zealanders aged 15-45 admit to having used cannabis at some time, and 16% describe themselves as current users.
• Use rose more than 20% from 1990 to 1998, a period of tougher laws and increased arrests.
• The 2012 United Nations 2012 Drug Report confirmed New Zelanders are still among the top pot users in the world.
• There are too many cannabis consumers to arrest: over half a million Kiwis regularly break the law on cannabis, including 70,000 on a daily basis.
In 2014, Lorde broke out with her No. 1 hit "Royals," and won two Grammy awards.
