Ambivalent honesty.
Lorde has released his fourth album, a production that is close to 35 minutes. The cover, tinted a deep blue, contains the x-ray of her belly with an Intrauterine Device (IUD) and the line of a zipper leading to it. The singer of New Zealand origin decided to remove the device from her body at the time of the creation of Virginthe album we are talking about today.
At 28 years old and with a career that dates back to his early 16s, when he published in Soundcloudthe artist shows us here direct inventions, with her voice at the center of our ears and which maintain the confessional tone to which her fans are accustomed, with the difference that the album overflows with a different, even somewhat masculine energy, inscribed in its genesis.
And it is that Lorde has allowed substantial changes in his life starting in 2023, when, for example, he suspended a long pharmaceutical treatment. The combination of these new factors led her to a state of physical “virginity”, that is, a starting point, in which “there is something macho” (in her words) and also something adolescent, “the precipice to a great change” when things are left behind to gain new qualities.
The composer realized that for her, gender is not a static situation, but that the coordinates are multiple, which influenced her activity in the gym, where she saw her body broaden and strengthen. In turn, of course, this undeniably impacted her music, simultaneous with her return to ovulation, circumstances that describe the male-female duality in the track initial, “Hammer.”
“Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man, oh / I might have been born again” sings the one also responsible for Pure Heroinewho later tells us that she does not have all the certainty about her identity, with which she could be comfortable due to her desire for expansion. The music is frenetic, it accompanies the expansive impulse, traces optimism with its electronic rhythms.
The disc advances with “What Was That”a nostalgic piece linked to a breakup in love, with the great line “I remember saying then, This is the best cigarette of my life / Well, I want you just like that”. It is important to note that this song is slightly reminiscent of the style of Charli XCXwhich is not counterproductive, because together with Lorde they performed in Coachella 2025 he remix of ““Girl, so confusing”which smoothed out the rough edges between the two.
In this collaboration, the New Zealander explains her struggle with weight changes in her body, how intimidated she felt about the life and presence of Charliewithin whose radar he did not really believe he was. Humanizes the creator of the brat summerwho, beyond being a modern pop icon, is a girl from Essex, England, with her own vulnerabilities.
“Shapeshifter” is the third track of the album, which, evocative of Björk and an urban nocturnal essence, expresses the different forms that Lorde has adopted in his relationships (““I’ve been the ice, I’ve been the flame / I’ve been the prize, the ball, the chain”), which he declares do not affect him, since it is difficult for him to connect with people, even though sometimes he cannot resist trying.
Go on ““Man Of The Year”a track in which Lorde She continues her identity reflection, wondering who will love her new self, while enjoying the freedom that comes with challenging the limits of the feminine. On the other hand, the description “Gold chain, my shoulders, my face in the light, oh”refer to the video of track homonymous, in which the artist dances with a bare torso, ribbon over her breasts, a gold chain and without makeup, under a mix of future garage and art pop.
In ““Favorite Daughter” There is a dedication to her mother, whom she wishes would feel proud of her musical career, whom she admires for her bravery, and who told her that the composer bears a resemblance to her deceased uncle (another reference to the masculine in Lorde). On a different topic, ““Current Affairs” addresses erotic nuances in the life of the New Zealander, which have been both bittersweet and pleasant and among which the line “He spit in my mouth like he’s saying a prayer.”
Under the same erotic scope, “Clearblue” It is a practically vocal piece that faces the possibility of pregnancy, which accompanies feelings with which Lorde speaks of a connection with someone who allowed him to leave his fears and boundaries: “Bars on my windows, you bust them wide open / ‘Til clearness is all I see”; Together with a Vocoder and some harmonies, the composer’s voice describes freedom despite the fear of becoming a mother.
“GRWM”what does it mean “Grown Woman”it’s a track that profiles us towards the feminine in Lorde and where she exposes what has made her physically complex. However, she does not sing from shame, but from acceptance and from the awareness that she is a woman who has grown up, a woman with a date of birth in 1996. On the other hand, with “Broken Glass”responsible for Melodrama she writes about her struggles with an eating disorder in an incredibly direct way: “Last year was bad / I let myself get sucked in by arithmetic”we hear him singing. Later, he makes allusions to breaking the mirror in which his image is reflected and wonders if this will bring him bad luck or if it will just be a destroyed object that he analyzes to the rhythm of electropop. “If She Could See Me Now” is the penultimate track, which explores the songwriter’s emotional progress through swimming and weight lifting, ways of putting herself back together.
Finally, in “David”a track sonorously introspective, Lorde He questions whether one day he will give his feelings to someone again, while at the same time he wonders why we run to the embrace of certain people over others. Virginis, in short, an ambivalent album, in which Lorde It moves from the feminine to the masculine, from detachment to connection, from acceptance to self-rejection, through lyrics in which honesty is perceived.
The sounds of the album do not completely cross the threshold of experimentation, which, if achieved, could play positively for the composer in future releases, in the hope that she will give us more of this facet in which, indeed, she has become the man of the year. Virgin is a musical publication Republic Recordswas produced by the company itself Lorde and for Jim E. Stackwho has also worked with Joji, Caroline Polachek and Dominic Fikeamong others.
Stay tuned for Indie Rocks! for more details.
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