Seemingly materializing out of the blue, Lorde’s June 27 release “Virgin” reinvigorates the pop powerhouse’s discography, while invoking intimate lyrics and themes that’ve permeated the singer’s four-year getaway from public spotlight. Summating her time looking inwards, “Virgin” serves as a deep-seated recollection of experiences in the singer’s life and evolution in both her sense of self and perceived role in the music industry.
The singer’s last project, the airy and reflective “Solar Power,” bubbled onto the surface in 2021. In the years following its release, however, the singer expressed in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that during 2023, she felt she might never create music again, citing her experience with an eating disorder and mental health challenges. Since recovering and regaining touch with her artistry, she’s collaborated with hyper-pop princess Charli XCX on a remix of the latter’s track “Girl, So Confusing,” inspired by the pair’s once complex relationship.
Marking a fresh epoch, “Virgin” unfurls with a droning reverberation that shifts between headphones, transitioning into a plain-spoken verse that treads along. Throughout the first track, “Hammer,” she recounts her experience coming off birth control, exploring her gender identity– a recurring theme throughout the album– and entering a liberated time in her life, no longer curbed by personal and professional deterrents. Spiraling upward, Lorde’s breathy vocals touch on sending “postcards from the edge,” all the while being layered atop vivacious beats that continue throughout the track.
The project’s first single, “What Was That,” is an electropop condensation of Lorde’s plunge into adulthood; she looks back at youth, her rise to fame and “dreams” from her past. Industrial resonance permeates the track’s scant choruses, which lean into atmospheric reverence. Veering into a gritty pulse, “Shapeshifter” recounts Lorde’s morphosis into different versions of herself, often to please others or evade her own identity, likened to being the “dice, the Magic 8 and fruit that leaves a stain.” Violin, viola and cello speed the melody up as it nears an alluring bridge, dropping into stacked vocals and a trembling, dense wall of sound.
Another of the album’s singles, “Man Of The Year,” recounts the singer being greeted by masculine perceptions of self and doubting her ability to be loved in her dynamic form. In recent months, Lorde has been open about her expanding gender identity, conveying fluidity and a resistance to labeling. Melodicially, the track’s air appears simple and raw, growing into a thundering, liberatory upheaval where Lorde excavates gender nuances and being candid with those around her.
Transitioning into a more upbeat, poppy air, “Favorite Daughter” makes use of sanguine drum beats while exasperatingly begging for parental acceptance and that of her fan base. Lorde alludes to panic attacks on stage and compares her artistry and career goals to her mother’s, a New Zealand poet. “Current Affairs” sees the singer vulnerably expressing intimate thoughts and sexual experiences, sampling Dexta Daps’ 2014 track “Morning Love.” Lorde, unguarded and conscious of the public’s perception, pleads for guidance in interpersonal relations and masks her unease by attributing a tumultuous emotional state to societal affairs.
In the stripped-back, transient number “Clearblue,” named after the brand of pregnancy tests, the singer shares a story of unprotected sex, testing for pregnancy and experiencing a flood of emotions, ranging from anxiety to connections with women in her family line. The ruminative and melodically light song shapeshifts into the following bass-heavy track, boasting industrial resonance and synthesizers, in which Lorde comes to terms with maturity and past self’s yearning for adulthood. Its title, “GRWM,” alludes to being a grown woman, something Lorde admits she’s been striving for throughout many years.
Despite being lively and vivacious sonically, “Broken Glass” is a candid, yet healing, account of the musician’s experience having an eating disorder, self-doubt and her personal life being clutched in the grasp of “making weight.” The song’s bouncy melody, tinged with metallic noise, contrasts with Lorde expressing a distanced perspective on body image and conversations with her former self. “If She Could See Me Now” touches on similar themes despite being crafted from the still vivacious remnants of Lorde’s past artistry. Heavy, pop synthesizers and keyboards compliment the retrospective and loving vocalization of the present-day singer feeling “like an angel looking down” at young Lorde.
Hastily moving on from the previous track’s exuberance, the project concludes with the introspective and swelling “David.” Its quiet, lulling beginning is hastily pierced with Lorde’s wounded vocals, mulling over being naive, not taken seriously in the music industry and exploited of her creativity, which she regains possession of while coming of age. Growing in intensity, the song’s synthesizers seem to sparkle, coming forward into the mix and overtaking Lorde’s vocals. Shifting from ear to ear, vocals and consuming instrumentation break free in the vast soundscape, causing Lorde to exasperatingly exclaim she “doesn’t belong to anyone” after liberating herself from her mind, family, lovers and bygone years in the recording business.
Favorite tracks: “Shapeshifter,” “Current Affairs” and “David”
Least favorite tracks: “What Was That” and “GRWM”
