{"id":661121,"date":"2026-06-27T12:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661121\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T12:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:58:09","slug":"lorde-opens-up-about-pmdd-diagnosis-and-releases-49-virgin-demos-to-celebrate-albums-first-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/661121\/","title":{"rendered":"Lorde opens up about PMDD diagnosis and releases 49 ‘Virgin’ demos to celebrate album’s first anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lorde<\/a> has marked the first anniversary of \u2018Virgin<\/a>\u2018 by sharing a collection of demos from the album, as well as a newsletter detailing the making of it.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Lorde \u2013 \u2018Virgin\u2019 review: the inquisitive artist strips herself bare<\/a><\/p>\n

The letter, shared yesterday (June 26), includes 49 demos dating back to 2022, as well as notes and photographs from the album\u2019s creation. They\u2019re available to listen to on the streaming platform untitled.stream<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we played around with making an album worth of these skeleton versions, cool composites of a few different versions. But on Sunday night, I realised true X-rays of Virgin would be realer, funnier, more revealing of crookedness and slant,\u201d she wrote of her decision to share the demos.<\/p>\n

Lorde also opened up about the emotional weight of the record, admitting that sharing it felt \u201craw and exposing in a new way.\u201d Reflecting on its intense creative process, she shared that \u201cevery single day making Virgin was a total gift,\u201d even as she navigated personal challenges, including a breakup, an eating disorder, and a PMDD [Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder]\u00a0diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the sense that I was setting myself free, building a holy site,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI concentrated on singing to myself the way I needed to be sung to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Lorde went on to say that she had been working on recovering from what she described as a \u201cbrief but long gestating\u201d eating disorder while recording the album, including deleting a calorie-tracking app and working on her relationship with food.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe week we started what would become Shapeshifter and What Was That I was working on believing that breakfast wasn\u2019t a negotiation. I made myself drink a smoothie every morning, went to work when I wanted to run away, kept trying, one foot in front of the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also shared that a friend had noticed she seemed to fall into intense depression around her period each month, leading to her being diagnosed with PMDD \u2013 a severe form of premenstrual syndrome that can cause significant mood disturbances in the lead-up to menstruation.<\/p>\n

Lorde also opened up about the influence of Charli XCX<\/a>\u2018s \u2018Brat<\/a>\u2018, which she described as \u201ca weather system of fearlessness and fragility\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy nascent stage was suddenly, shockingly external. I had to really look at my shit and stay open,\u201d she wrote. \u201cCharli kept me close and gave me the perfect amount of space, that takes real care. My faith in music as a social technology was restored. At the parties and festivals I smoked and sang and felt like part of the human race.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a postscript, she mentioned having googled burnout symptoms and said she was now on an SSRI and feeling better.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Virgin\u2019 was given a\u00a0four-star review by\u00a0NME,<\/a>\u00a0which read: \u201c\u2018Virgin\u2019 is a vibrant combination of Lorde\u2019s best qualities, and then some.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith her newfound candour, the record combines the emotional whirlwind of \u2018Melodrama\u2019, the chilling minimalism of\u00a0\u2018Pure Heroine\u2019<\/a>\u00a0and the breezy freedom of \u2018Solar Power\u2019,\u201d it added. \u201cThis might be called \u2018Virgin\u2019, but Lorde proves she\u2019s not afraid to strip herself bare.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Lorde rarely broke out the Charli XCX collab in her \u2018Ultrasound Tour\u2019 shows, last October she did play the song live while at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles and\u00a0brought out the \u2018360\u2019 singer as a surprise guest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since the \u2018Virgin\u2019 record arrived and the \u2018Ultrasound\u2019 live dates kicked off,\u00a0Lorde has donated over $200,000 from merch sales to Minnesota immigrant funds<\/a>, and also been confirmed as\u00a0a headliner for All Points East 2026 in London<\/a>. That line-up also includes\u00a0PinkPantheress<\/a>,\u00a0Zara Larsson<\/a>\u00a0and more as support.<\/p>\n

For help and advice on mental health:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lorde has marked the first anniversary of \u2018Virgin\u2018 by sharing a collection of demos from the album, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,78468,128,1581,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-661121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-lets-talk-mental-health","tag-music","tag-pop","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}