Lorde’s fourth album, Virgin, marks a powerful return to electropop, documenting her journey of femininity and self-discovery. Discover how the New Zealand sensation’s new sound and deeply personal lyrics are reshaping her artistry.
Twelve years after her breakout hit “Royals” launched her into global stardom, Ella Yelich-O’Connor, the artist known as Lorde, is in a new phase of her career, marked by her fourth album, Virgin.
The album, released on June 27, 2025, debuted at number one on the UK charts and is a raw, visceral exploration of femininity and self-discovery.
The central theme of Virgin is Lorde’s journey of documenting her femininity. At 28 years old, she describes the album’s creation as “something coming out of you quite violently that you can’t really control”. This deeply personal approach is reflected in the album’s lyrical content, which is a significant departure from her earlier work.
While her previous albums, particularly Melodrama, explored the collective “we” of youth, Virgin is a process of revealing her individual “I,” as she feels more confident in her own identity. The album’s unsettling and honest nature is captured on its cover, an X-ray of her pelvis, which she described as a move to reclaim her own narrative and explore her body beyond an external, public gaze.
Following her folk-inspired album Solar Power, Virgin marks a return to the synth-pop and electronic sounds of her earlier work, with a more jagged and unsettled edge. This new sound was crafted through collaborations with a new team of producers, including Devonté Hynes and James Harmon Stack (Jim-E Stack), along with additional contributions from Dan Nigro and Fabiana Palladino.
Lorde co-produced the album, and she noted a significant shift in her creative process, particularly her first major writing collaboration with a woman, Fabiana Palladino. The album is considered to be “transparently bold, awkwardly confrontational, and honest”.
While some critics have praised its innovative production and raw lyrics, others felt the album was a “mixed bag,” with some tracks feeling underdeveloped and lacking the cathartic choruses of her previous work.
Lorde has always been a figure of influence for a younger generation of artists. She is seen as a mentor to singers like Gracie Abrams, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo, and her close friendship with Taylor Swift is well-documented.
This generational mentorship is highlighted by her surprise performances at festivals, including an unannounced set at Glastonbury where she performed the entirety of Virgin. This act of spontaneity and vulnerability is at the heart of her current artistic philosophy.
Lorde, whose real name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor, has been candid about the personal struggles that informed her new work. She moved from her home in New Zealand to New York in 2023, a move that coincided with a period of personal upheaval, including a breakup with her long-term boyfriend.
She has spoken openly about her struggles with severe eating disorders, anxiety, and premenstrual mood swings, and her journey back to health with the help of psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Lorde’s artistic foundation remains deeply rooted in her New Zealand upbringing and her family, particularly her mother, Sonja Yelich, a renowned poet. Lorde considers her creative process a “long conversation between me and my mother” and draws inspiration from literary figures like Annie Ernaux, whom she deeply admires for her radical honesty.
From her rise to fame at 16 with “Royals,” which earned her two Grammy Awards in 2014, to her critically acclaimed sophomore album Melodrama, Lorde has consistently proven herself to be a musical innovator. Her talent was recognized by icons like David Bowie, who called her “the future of music,” and the members of Nirvana, who invited her to join them on stage for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
With Virgin, Lorde shows that she is not afraid to break conventions or revisit her past sounds, proving once again that she is an artist in a constant state of evolution, committed to pushing boundaries and sharing her most authentic self with the world.
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