Lorde’s ‘Hammer’ Lyrics Detail the Sound of Her ‘Rebirth’

Lorde’s back with a new single. “Hammer” is the third offering from her upcoming album, Virgin, which will officially drop a week from today.

It’s the first track on the LP and, as Lorde put it, is “an ode to city life and horniness tbh.” Written by her and Jim-E Stack, the song pays homage to both of those themes with the opening lines: “There’s a heat in the pavement, my mercury’s raising / Don’t know if it’s love or if it’s ovulation.”

Some lyrics also nod to gender expression: “Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man,” she sings.

On her website, Lorde described the song as, “MAGIC JEWELRY. NINE MOONS. LARRY THE PIGEON MAN. FLIRTING WITH THE GUY AT MNZ. OVULATION. CRISP SPRING SUN. IMMENSE GRATITUDE TO BE ALIVE. BRAIDING WITH LANGUAGE. BUDDY’S GRANULAR SYNTH. LOGIC OPEN ON THE PLANE. BIG BREAKTHROUGH IN LONDON. FIRST SONG SENT TO MIX. ALWAYS TRACK 1. THE SOUND OF MY REBIRTH.”

Earlier today, she dropped the music video directed by Renell Medrano. She’s shown swinging naked in a hammock, smoking with her friends, running in a field, and getting a butt tattoo in the woods.

You can check out the full lyrics to the track below, courtesy of Genius.

[Verse 1]There’s a heat in the pavement, my mercury’s raisingDon’t know if it’s love or if it’s ovulationWhen you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nailThe mist from the fountain is kissing my neckThe liquid crystal is in my grip

Anyone with a snake tongue, I show ‘em the chambers of my heart

[Pre-Chorus]Now I know you don’t deal much in love and affectionBut I really do think there could be a connectionI burn and I sing and I scheme and I dance

Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man, oh

[Chorus]I might have been born againI’m ready to feel like I don’t have thе answersThere’s pеace in the madness over our heads

Let it carry me o-o-o-o-on

[Post-Chorus]OnAh

Ah

[Verse 2]Today, I’ll go to Canal Street, they’re piercing my earsI’m making a wish when the needle goes in

Take an aura picture, read it and tell me who I am (Show me who I am)

[Pre-Chorus]Now I know you don’t deal much in love and affectionBut I really do think you can make an exceptionIt’s a beautiful life, so I play truant

I jerk tears and they pay me to do it, oh

[Chorus]I might have been born againI’m ready to feel like I don’t have the answersThere’s peace in the madness over our heads

Let it carry me o-o-o-o-on

[Post-Chorus]OnAhAhAhAhAh, ah, ah

Ah

[Outro]Let it break me down till I’m just a wreckTill I’m just a voice living in your headIt’s a fucked-up world, been to hell and backBut I’ve sent you a postcard from the edgeThe edgeMm, oh

Oh