Lorde Embraces Vulnerability, Questions Identity on ‘Virgin’
Everyone can exhale again, because it’s summer and Lorde is officially back and better than ever. After four years since her last project, Lorde has released her fourth studio album Virgin. Filled with synth-pop beats and gut-wrenching lyrics, Virgin seems to resemble her second and beloved album Melodrama, but features more mature vocals like the ones we heard in Solar Power.
Via @lorde on Instagram.
To kick us off, “Hammer” feels like one of the most quintessentially, truly “Lorde” songs on the album. With a trippy introduction that kind of makes the listener feel as if they’re spinning, and then lyrics that feel both hugely personal yet strikingly relatable, this is what she’s known for and this is why we love her.
The second track, “What Was That,” was the first single released back in April and the one that took the internet by storm. She teased it a few weeks before its official release with a snippet on TikTok. Despite the fact that the video, besides the song, is just a clip of her walking, it has since garnered 36.9 million views, proving that she has truly reached pop star level fame and regard. At the time, fans were thrilled because the song seemed to recall what is often thought of as her classic sound and aesthetic, whereas with her more recent tracks on Solar Power she was more experimental. When the full song was released April 24th, the song exceeded expectations in how it seems to blend elements from all stages of her career.
“Shapeshifter” claims over and over “I’m not affected.” However, the rest of the album and even the song as a whole seem to suggest otherwise. In the third line of the track, she explains “But the voice in my head says, ‘Do you have the stones?’”—a phrase that is slang for asking if one has the guts to go through with something. In this context, that “something” seems to be the ability to be casual with a romantic interest/partner, nonchalance is not something that seems to come naturally to the singer. She admits this by the end of the track with the very intentional shift of the lyrics to be “Say I'm not affected.” She’s not actually unaffected, she is merely trying to convince herself and others that she is.
Up until this point, the album has had an underlying theme revolving around the concept of identity. She references this in “Hammer,” specifically around gender in the line “Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man.” Identity is also heavily present in “Shapeshifter,” when throughout the chorus she makes conflicting statements about herself such as “I've been the ice, I've been the flame.” Here, she is again referencing the layered nature to her own identity. The fourth track, “Man Of The Year,” plays more into this theme. She references growth with lines like, “My babe can't believe I've become someone else / Someone more like myself,” and when she calls out “Let's hear it for the man of the year,” she very well might be referring to herself, once again calling traditional gender roles into question.
Next comes what could be one of the top three songs on the album, a difficult distinction to make. “Favourite Daughter” calls to mind the experience of trying to prove oneself, especially to figures such as one’s parents, with the titular line “Breaking my back just to be your favourite daughter.” It is noteworthy as well that the singer specifically uses the word “daughter” in this song—a highly gendered term. Throughout the album so far she alludes to at points feeling more masculine, but here leans into the feminine. Perhaps it is a commentary on the high expectations often placed on those who were born female—on a personal level, the singer doesn’t seem to identify particularly strongly with either gender, yet they still face the standards set for women.
Again, while hard to truly label any songs on the album as “better,” than others, “Current Affairs” is certainly one of the most innovative. At the beginning of the chorus, she makes the sweeping statement, “My bed is on fire / Mama, I'm so scared.” By the end, she sings “But now I'm cryin' on the phone / Swearing nothing's wrong / Blame it on / Current affairs.” The emotions captured in the song ring true, especially in today’s climate: it seems like there’s always something terrifying happening in the world. It can be so hard to then validate personal struggles, when there’s such significant larger picture issues. And yet, those personal struggles are often the ones we fixate on.
“Clearblue,” which derives its title from the name of a pregnancy test, is one of the most intimate tracks on the album, discussing her interactions with a romantic partner.
In the next track, “GRWM,” it is unclear what the title actually stands for. While this is a social media term referring to “get ready with me” style videos where the subject is either putting together an outfit, arranging jewelry, putting on makeup, or any of the other typical steps to “getting ready,” in the song itself Lorde often refers to “A grown woman.” Surely conflating the two terms was purposeful on part of the singer. It seems it could be a comment on beauty culture and the push for women to constantly appear youthful, especially on social media.
Coming in at number nine, “Broken Glass” is one of the most vulnerable tracks on the album. It goes in depth about the struggle of having and recovering from an eating disorder. From the very first line, “Mystique is dead,” where the Lorde is rebuking the notion that eating disorders can be romanticized or that they lead to a “better” body, the singer is nothing but brutally honest.
After the classic reflective penultimate track of “If She Could See Me Now,” the whole album comes to a close with “David”—and what an ending that is. With lyrics that cut straight to the core such as “I made you God 'cause it was all / That I knew how to do,” the track simultaneously wraps up the album, yet leaves some questions unanswered, some notes unsaid.
