REVIEW OF VIRGIN BY LORDE
BY ELLA EDWARDS
Lorde soared to superstardom as a sixteen-year-old following her pop debut, Pure Heroine. Though she’s certainly retained her relevance in the genre, her subsequent works remain eclipsed by that first. Despite releasing records Melodrama (2017) and Solar Power (2021), nothing quite matched the scrappy, poignant teenager-ness that brought her first album such acclaim.
However, her most recent record, Virgin, which hit the charts on June 27th, taps back into that coming-of-age drama, wrestling relentlessly with trauma, nostalgia, and growth. It might be just what fans were craving, sharing in the painful emotional puberty of twenty-somethings, with enough catchy moments to make it cool, not depressing.
It opens with the pulsating single “Hammer”, electronic and building, laced with contentment and freedom from questioning. In the empowered chorus, Lorde chants, “I might have been born again // I’m ready to feel like I don’t have the answers”. In these lyrics, she captures the ongoing nature of growing up and finally accepting oneself, achieving the sort of youthful perspective that brought her such popularity back in 2013. This vibe continues into the next track, “What Was That,” which was released as a single back in April. In this number, Lore wedges a catchy chorus between desperate, searching vocals and wild, hazy lyrics. It has that “song of the summer” je ne sais quoi, something that would earn it a rightful spot in a night drive playlist.
At this point in the album, “Shapeshifter” kind of comes in and tears the rug out from under listeners. A deeply introspective track with dark cello-bass instrumentals, this echoey and intense number threads in the theme of identity established in “Hammer”, while introducing a moodier stretch of the record. “Man of the Year” comes next, a sweeping, discordant ballad that seems to capture the tension of feeling radical self love in a sexist society. The beat and dark synth tones cut in and out throughout the track, making for a poignant moment on the album.
The next song, “Favourite Daughter,” sounds poppy and bright, but its lyrics might be the record’s most tortured. It tells the story of a child’s rise to fame, all with the desire to make their parents’ proud. These very on-the-nose lyrics make for a raw track at the heart of this album.
“Current Affairs” cuts in next, built upon a single note plucked rhythmically from a bass guitar. This track has you almost hearing voices on top of the panicked lyrics, making for an overwhelming listening experience. The chaos continues to grow throughout “Clearblue,” with distorted voice effects and lyrics that feel like science fiction. At the peak of the madness, this track whips into a stripped-down denouement in falsetto.
It is followed by “GRWM,” which, like so much of the album, captures the ecstasy of coming into yourself as an adult. Lorde sings the triumphant chorus in husky spoken flows, syncopated to the track’s chill, steady beat. Next is “Broken Glass,” a song with dysfunctional lyrics set to a chaotic synth beat. This mayhem is fun and freeing, not unlike the work of Lorde’s colleague and last summer’s most important popstar, Charli xcx. The thrilling energy doesn’t end here; “If She Could See Me Now,” an empowered track against steady and punchy guitar chords, brings it on, feeling like a gloating letter to an evil ex.
“David” closes Virgin, a song that seems to mourn the loss of youth while claiming independence. It has a quiet start, but rises and falls poignantly throughout the track, eventually growing into intense distortion. This feverish crescendo finally breaks to a stripped vocal ending. Here, Lorde takes the album home, crooning, “Am I ever gon’ love again?” It makes for a fitting close to a record so focused on self love, but also self obscurity.
Virgin perfectly encapsulates that so much changes with time and so much doesn’t; she celebrates her adult body in “GRWM” but describes herself as “some kid faking it for your love” in “Favourite Daughter”. In “Hammer” she declares, “Some days, I’m a woman, some days, I’m a man,”. She contradicts herself with tracks like “Shapeshifter”, singing “I’ve been the ice, I’ve been the flame,”. Lorde doesn’t pretend to completely understand these identities, sprinkling questions, confusion, and chaos within her musings on gender, relationships, and change.
Just like the pelvis x-ray on the cover, this record is a snapshot of self understanding, something that is bound to morph continuously. This iteration of Lorde seems bolder than ever and in-touch with herself enough to accept the parts of her that are mysterious. With upbeat electronic moments, Virgin is certainly going to be fun for this summer, but for anyone struggling to make peace with themselves, this album could be so much more.
