After a four-year wait, Lorde released her fourth studio album, “Virgin,” on June 27. She reintroduces herself in the release with a stark tonal shift from the warm wistfulness of her last album, “Solar Power,” to something colder, heavier and confrontational.
Released at the tail end of Pride Month, the album gives listeners a look inside Lorde’s journey embracing fluidity in her sound, gender and self-presentation. In a Rolling Stone interview,
she hinted at a shifting relationship with her identity, describing herself as “in the middle, gender-wise.”
From the first song of the album, “Hammer,” it’s hard not to miss her connection to the LGBTQ+ community within her music.
“Some days, I’m a woman,” she sings. “Some days, I’m a man.”
The album is about transformation through discomfort, as she lets go of grace and beauty in favor of something more honest. Lorde knows she doesn’t have everything figured out, and that’s the point.
Her metamorphosis is felt through every second of “Virgin” in its raw, pulsing and deeply personal soundtrack.
“This album broke me apart and forged a new creature out of me,” Lorde said in an Instagram post.
The album’s name isn’t about traditional purity but rather being broken down and rebuilt in a raw beginning. It speaks to how confusing and messy sex can be in a way that feels honest instead of idealized.
The album’s first impression comes from its striking cover: a somber X-ray image of a pelvis adorned with a belt buckle, pants zipper and an IUD. The image is as off-kilter and evocative as the music itself, setting the tone before a single note plays.
The record opens with a single titled “Hammer,” pre-released on June 20. It begins with a rippling, reverberated beat that creates a rhythm that surrounds the listener.
It is disorienting and tense, stirring a sense of emotional claustrophobia that presses in on the ears. Lorde dynamically sings with the beat, seemingly a part of the mess but OK with it.
“I’m ready to feel like I don’t have the answers,” she sings in the chorus. Embracing uncertainty, the line finds power in vulnerability.
The feeling carries into the middle of the album with the track “Current Affairs.” The song merges themes of personal drama, like family, love and fame, with sexual agency, inherited pain and self-exposure.
The track begins with the jarring line, “You tasted my underwear, I knew we were fucked,” throwing the listener into something physical and emotionally loaded. Listeners can relate to the awkwardness of intimacy and new sexual experiences in this song.
The production is merged with a distorted sample of Dexta Daps’ song, “Morning Love,” which provides an unexpected dancehall sway. The song’s rhythm feels like standing on top of a surfboard, legs shaking as the waves methodically pulse underneath.
Hard-hitting lyrics like, “My bed is on fire, Mama, I’m so scared” repeat in the chorus, tapping into fear, shame and the ache of growing up too quickly.
The song’s heart lies in the emotional aftermath of a failed relationship and how the lingering pain quietly seeps into other parts of life.
The album wraps up with the song “David,” where Lorde ditches her hauntingly breathy tone and sings clearly and loudly. The softer instruments in the background swell and dip with the singer's voice, creating gravitas.
Her words tell the story of misplaced trust, falling for the wrong person and ultimately finding the strength to let go.
The lyrics, “I made you God ‘cause it was all that I knew how to do, but I don’t belong to anyone,” summarize the core of foregoing unhealthy devotion and reclaiming selfhood.
After listening to the album, feelings of nakedness and raw honesty linger. The album strips away illusions and exposes unguarded emotions and stark truths that resonate long after the last notes fade.
“Virgin” isn’t an easy, toe-tapping listen, but that is what makes it compelling. Each song is more personal than the last, giving listeners a mountaintop view of Lorde’s mind. It is messy, bold and deeply human, connecting with the queer and the conventional.
Contact Isis Snow at isnow@alligator.org. Follow her on X @snow_isisUF.
Isis Snow is a junior sports journalism student and a general assignment reporter for The Avenue. She enjoys reading and working out whenever she has the opportunity.
