Lorde rediscovers herself on her new album “Virgin”

A belt buckle, a zipper, a spiral can be seen on "Virgin" – all surrounded by the bony shell of a human pelvis. It's Lorde's pelvis, Lorde's spiral – an X-ray of the New Yorker by choice. If the cover is anything to go by, the fourth album promises deep insights into the inner workings of an introverted superstar.

With Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (28), daughter of Croatian poet Sonja Yelich, and a pop star since 2012, one can only speculate about what specific aspects of her life have influenced the eleven very direct, physical songs. She's no Taylor Swift. Is "What Was That" about her breakup with Universal executive Justin Warren, or "Broken Glass" about her eating disorder? Is the guy who tasted her underwear in the indie-rock "Current Affairs" real?

She adores David Bowie and is friends with David Byrne – but the David in the dark ballad “David,” whom she “made a god,” is someone who oppressed her.

The song "Hammer" opens the New Zealand-born singer's album, with Lorde's voice nestled against sparkling synths. Rhythm comes late to this "ode to urban life and lust," as she describes the song. "Some days I'm a woman / some days I'm a man," she sings.

She now also uses more masculine elements in her clothing: "I'm an intense bitch," Lorde said in a "Rolling Stone" interview about her new album "Virgin."

Source: Thistle Brown

“My gender identity became much broader when I gave my body more space,” the “cis woman with unchanged pronouns” is quoted as saying in the cover story of the current (German) “Rolling Stone,” on whose cover under-30 artists have become rare.

"Hammer" sets the tone for the album: "Virgin"—under the wing of Bon Iver producer Jim-E Stack—represents Lorde's return to cool, clean electronic music. Previously, on the album "Solar Power" (2021), she evoked the good old Mungo Jerry summer, the season "when the weather is fine" and not the one when wildfires incinerate the world. It honored her parents' record collection; everything smelled of wood, meadow, and weed, Hawaiian psychedelic plus Beatles trumpets made their way through, and Phoebe Bridgers sang along.

What's also evident on "Virgin" is her aversion to materialism, the mainstream, fame, stardom, and business – themes that run through Lorde's work. "Favourite Daughter," for example, is about a growing distance from fans while simultaneously desiring a lasting connection. It's also about the artist who has become a star and feels fake. "I pick a song and listen to it until it's just a piece of music," Lorde sings in "If She Could See Me Now."

Most of it is danceable – but in an exciting, discreetly eccentric way. Sure, you can't become a "virgin"; "Virgin" rather means purification, a return to purity – self-realization, self-being. "Man of the Year" is about this courage, heavy and sparse, a kind of electro-blues: "My baby can't believe I've become someone else / someone more like me." And "David" is out: "When I could sing again, I swore I'd never sing for you again."

A clear look inside: The cover of the album "Virgin" shows an x-ray of Lorde's pelvis with belt buckle, zipper and intrauterine device.

Source: Universal Music

Lorde – “Virgin” (Republic/Universal New Zealand) – released on June 27

Lorde live on Ultrasound World Tour in Germany: December 1 – Zenith, Munich; December 3 – Cologne, Palladium; December 5 – Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin.