This past summer, contemporary pop music’s mystic Lorde released her fourth studio album, Virgin. The record serves as a follow-up to her 2021 Solar Power, which was met with polarising reviews from both critics and the public. In a letter to fans when speaking on its initial reception, she said, “That response was really confounding and at times painful to sit with at first.” Although it included some of her most pensive and beautifully-written tracks (“Stoned at the Nail Salon” and “Oceanic Feeling”), the record seemed to serve as a naive sunny island getaway embracing a more dialed down folk-y production thanks to long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff. With Virgin, Lorde instead recruits the help of producers like Jim-E Stack, Dan Nigro, and Dev Hynes. In it she returns to the electronic, alternative synth-pop sound of her first two critically-acclaimed albums.
The album’s artwork is an X-ray image of Lorde’s pelvis featuring a pant zipper and button, belt buckle, and IUD (intrauterine device). It was taken by photographer Heji Shin, known for capturing crowning babies emerging from the birth canal. Lorde said she viewed X-rays, MRI, and ultrasound as means to capture “techy but mystical” images. Lorde, who has synesthesia (experiencing colors when listening to music), explained that the record’s color was “clear…Like bathwater, windows, ice, spit. Full transparency,” she said. She says it’s her attempt at creating “a document that [reflects her] femininity: raw, primal, innocent, elegant, openhearted, spiritual, masc.”
When speaking on the title itself, Lorde credits a couple different origins: “The word ‘virgin,’ some say, was derived from a Greek word that meant ‘not attached to a man, a woman who was ‘one-in-herself.’ Goddesses like Ishtar… and Isis were called ‘virgins’ not because they were inexperienced but because they were strong and independent.” Another source she cited reads, “There is also evidence that the word ‘virgin’ derived from the combination of the Latin words ‘vir- (for man, as in ‘virile) and-gyne’ (for woman, as in gynecology) – a man-woman or androgynous person.” Finally, she shared the definition of virgin metal: “pure metal obtained directly from ore.”
The record’s overarching themes include gender identity, body image, sex, heartbreak, self-discovery, and rebirth. The album’s opener is “Hammer”, which served as Virgin’s third and final single. It begins with the ominous drone of an ultrasound machine, and the first verse sees Lorde confess, “Don’t know if it’s love or if it’s ovulation/ When you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” She then declares, “Some days, I’m a woman/ Some days, I’m a man.” In the music video for “Man of the Year”, we watch Lorde bind her chest with a piece of duct tape and writhe around a room full of nothing but dirt. She sings, “My babe can’t believe I’ve become someone else/ Someone more like myself…Who’s gon’ love me like this?” The at-first-minimalist track finishes with a climax of drums, cymbals, and synths where Lorde then exclaims: “I didn’t think he’d appear, let’s hear it for the Man
The third track, “Shapeshifter”, might be Lorde’s magnum opus. In it, she portrays herself as the titular creature within her romantic relationships. Musically, it features a varied, complex drumbeat with majestic strings throughout. “Everyone that I’ve slept with/ All the pairs of hands, I’m reckless/ If I’m fine without it, why can’t I stop?”she begs. “I’ve been the ice, I’ve been the flame/ I’ve been the prize, the ball and chain/ I’ve been the dice, the magic eight/ So I’m not affected,” she admits bluntly in its chorus, confessing, “I’ve been the siren, been the saint/ I’ve been the fruit that leaves a stain/ I’ve been up on the pedestal/ But tonight I just wanna fall.” Lorde then delivers one of her strongest bridges yet: “I’ll kick you out and pull you in/ And say that you were just a friend/ And when it’s all over again/ Say I’m not affected.” Her soaring vocals bring the track to a stunning close.
Lorde references her battle with an eating disorder many times throughout the record. She begins “Shapeshifter” by stating, “Chewing gum, I know/ Don’t hide the sour taste that’s in my throat.” In lead single “What Was That”, she discloses covering all her mirrors as she isn’t ready to face herself yet. Most notably, “Broken Glass” delves deep into the psyche of disordered eating. “Did I cry myself to sleep about that?/ Cheat about that?/ Rot teeth about that?/ Did I sweat hours a week about that?/ Compete about that?/ Lose my freak about that?/ Huh, all of the above,” she reveals. Her frustration with the battle boils over in the chorus: “I wanna punch the mirror/ To make her see that this won’t last/ It might be months of bad luck/ But what if it’s just broken glass?”
Sticking with the theme of full transparency, Lorde gives us a glimpse into the most intimate moments of her life. “Current Affairs” utilizes a sample from Dexta Daps’s “Morning Love”. In it, she recites her experiences with hook-up culture (“You’re in the light then you’re in the dark/ Then someone throws a flare/ You tasted my underwear/ I knew we were f*cked”) and pleads with her mother for guidance: “My bed is on fire/ Mama, I’m so scared/ Were you ever like this, once you went out on the edge?” Immediately following this track is “Clearblue”, an acapella reminiscent of Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” (the original “Mmm, whatcha say” song). Titled after the pregnancy test of the same name, the track sees Lorde grappling with the possibility of unexpected motherhood. Her memories are graphic: “I feel you answer, my hips moving faster/ I rode you until I cried,” she yells out orgasmically. She describes the freedom that comes with sex, and most beautifully, mentions the women who came before her: “There’s broken blood in me, it passed through my mother/ From her mother down to me.”
There have been plenty of references to Lorde’s mother throughout her discography, and Virgin is no exception. In “GRWM”, originally speculated to be the common phrase “get ready with me,” she embraces the grown woman she’s evolved into thanks to her mom: “Wide hips, tooth chipped, ‘96/ Skin scarred, looking forward/ Wide hips, soft lips, my mama’s trauma.” “Favourite Daughter” is, of course, a tale of Lorde’s mission to gain her mother’s acceptance, but it also deals with her fears surrounding success and fame: “‘Cause I’m an actress, all of the medals I won for ya/ Panic attack just to be your favourite daughter/ Everywhere I run, I’m always runnin/ to ya/ Breaking my back to carry the weight of your heart.”
Virgin is a demonstration that the wunderkind doesn’t have it all figured out like previously thought. In “Hammer”, she announces for the first time, “I’m ready to feel like I don’t have the answers.” A new Lorde has emerged from the soil. She begins her “Ultrasound World Tour” this week in Austin, Texas.