Lorde Announces New Album Virgin

Virgin arrives June 27 via Republic. Listen to "What Was That" below.

Lorde Announces New Album Virgin
Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Lorde has announced her fourth album. Virgin will release June 27 via Republic. The news comes a week after the single “What Was That,” which Lorde wrote and produced with Jim-E Stack and Daniel Nigro. Virgin was co-produced by Stack and Lorde, with contributions from Andrew Aged, Fabiana Palladino, Blood Orange, Buddy Ross, and Nigro.

In an email to her fans, Lorde wrote: “THE COLOUR OF THE ALBUM IS CLEAR. LIKE BATHWATER, WINDOWS, ICE, SPIT. FULL TRANSPARENCY. THE LANGUAGE IS PLAIN AND UNSENTIMENTAL. THE SOUNDS ARE THE SAME WHEREVER POSSIBLE. I WAS TRYING TO SEE MYSELF, ALL THE WAY THROUGH. I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A DOCUMENT THAT REFLECTED MY FEMININITY: RAW, PRIMAL, INNOCENT, ELEGANT, OPENHEARTED, SPIRITUAL, MASC. I’M PROUD AND SCARED OF THIS ALBUM. THERE’S NOWHERE TO HIDE. I BELIEVE THAT PUTTING THE DEEPEST PARTS OF OURSELVES TO MUSIC IS WHAT SETS US FREE.”

Lorde’s last album, Solar Power, came out in 2021. I wrote then, “No matter what Solar Power sounds like, it’s divisive in the way it’s packaged: a happy, charming juxtaposition to Lorde’s previous gravitational, sad-girl melancholia. The songwriter ditches her affinity for sharp hooks for more solipsistic lambastings that neither swell, nor plummet with memorability. There isn’t a running theme of despair like there was on Melodrama, but there doesn’t need to be. The elegance of Solar Power is in its warmth, how you can put it on and not pay much attention to its details, and still catch yourself hitting replay.”

See the Virgin artwork and listen to “What Was That” below.

 
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