Virgin by Lorde: the body as a manifesto

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor exploded in 2013 with the single 'Royals', written in half an hour in her Auckland home and recorded during school breaks with producer Joel Little. Her rise had begun four years earlier, however, when, just 13, she won a school talent show with a cover of Duffy's 'Warwick Avenue'. The video reached Universal, who immediately signed her. The 2013 debut, 'Pure Heroine', showed a teenager's ability to mix obscure references such as Burial and SBTRKT with the pop breeziness of Lana Del Rey and early Florence Welch; the frivolity of her age with rather mature writing. Four years later, with 'Melodrama', Lorde raises the bar even higher, surrounding herself in production with the likes of Jack Antonoff and showing herself without frills. Love, sexuality and identity crises are served up on a pop plate declined in all its nuances, from electronic to singer-songwriter. Less appreciated by critics, 2021's 'Solar Power' offered some levity in a period still marked by the pandemic, although it was less brilliant and more controlled than the previous records. After hearing her cover of 'Life on Mars' at the 2016 Brit Awards, David Bowie had no problem considering Lorde 'the future of music', and it is perhaps this investiture that has raised expectations of the New Zealand artist.

After the silence following 'Solar Power', Lorde withdrew into her own inner space, going through a long phase of self-analysis. The meeting/clash with Charli Xcx for the remix of 'Girl, So Confusing' triggered an open confrontation about insecurities and the pressure of the music industry. The work on the new material coincided with a deep exploration of gender identity and sexuality, also made possible by psychedelic therapies based on MDMA and psilocybin. The path led Lorde to the idea of 'Virgin', to the rediscovery of the original meaning of the term, which, according to some, indicated a woman not bound to a man, but free: 'one in herself'. Virgin, therefore, as strong and independent. Lorde became one by going through a romantic break-up, an eating disorder and embracing the rediscovery of her own body. She confessed to Rolling Stone that her gender 'has become much more fluid' since she has allowed more space for her physicality.

The cover of 'Virgin' is an X-ray of a womb in which a zip and a spiral can also be seen. The album is co-produced by Lorde herself and Jim-E Stack, with whom the artist wrote the tracks for her fourth record in New York in 2024. The lyrics reveal O'Connor's newfound freedom, heedless of reactions to lyrics that are raw, blunt and far from any comfort zone. "Some days I'm a woman, some days I'm a man," she sings in the opening 'Hammer'. The first single to anticipate the record, 'What Was That' brings the dancefloor euphoria back into a nocturnal, minimalist atmosphere, while the other calling card of 'Virgin' was 'Man of the Year', an intimate ballad that becomes increasingly physical and visceral, like the accompanying video. Brutally honest, like one of the best albums of 2025.