Lorde’s Album Virgin – A ‘Transparent’ Approach to Growth

Lorde’s most recent album, ‘Virgin‘ was on released on the 27th of June 2025, and features songs about her struggles with gender, womanhood, fame, life decisions, relationships, and body image. It is her fourth album, following Solar Power in 2021, Melodrama in 2017, and Pure Heroine in 2013.

The cover (pictured below) features X-ray of Lorde’s pelvis with her belt buckle, zip, and IUD, representing the transparency of the album and its content. Lorde described the album overall to be, “Kind of like a photo of yourself that you don’t love but captures something true about you.” (Via Lorde: The Zane Lowe Interview)

“This album, for me, is honestly just about going straight to the core of who I am in the purest way possible, stripping away anything unnecessary and I also, making this album, talked a lot about trying to reflect my femininity, which I didn’t have the perfect document that reflected that and so I feel like the cover reflected that.” (Via Jack Saunders Radio 1)

The album features 11 deeply thought-out songs. Here is a breakdown of their themes, accompanied by Lorde’s own commentaries:

1. Hammer: Themes of gender, self-discovery, and fame. Lorde claims ‘Hammer’ is “An ode to city life and horniness tbh”. (Via Instagram)

Photo shared with Hammer – Via Instagram

2. What Was That: Themes of growing up, relationships, and drug use. Lorde says, “‘What Was That’ was kind of the first song that I wrote for this album that I felt like, ‘Okay, I see now where to go with all of this”. ‘

What Was That’ was the first single released before the album came out. It was teased on TikTok on the 9^th of April this year, with a video of Lorde walking through Washington Square Park. On the 22^nd of April, she debuted the song in Washington Square Park for a very large group, until shut down by police.

3. Shapeshifter: Themes of changing yourself and seeking attention. Lorde says, “I always knew it was going to be about this thing of kind of using sex for validation and it really felt like this story that had always sort of gone to the middle of the list”.

4. Man Of The Year: Themes of freedom, rebirth, and gender. Lorde says, “When we started writing the song ‘Man of the Year,’ I pictured the person who wanted to be singing that song on a stage in front of people. It was me in my jeans and I wanted to be shirtless, just in a chain and my jeans…”. The MOTY music video features Lorde binding her bare chest with duct tape, then dancing and rolling around freely in a room full of dirt in just her jeans.

5. Favourite Daughter: Themes of success and sacrifice. Lorde says, “That song is about my relationship with my mom who is the reason that I do everything that I do. But also as much as it’s about my mom, when I’m saying, ‘All the medals I won for you, breaking my back to be your favourite daughter,’ I have felt that I was also singing to an audience”.

6. Current Affairs: Themes of fear surrounding sex. Lorde says, “I didn’t realize that I’d been wanting to hear a woman talk about sex the way I was talking about sex in this album”.

@tavyio
lorde : “current affairs” [live debut at glastonbury festival 2025] #lorde virgin #alternative #pop #underground #undergroundmusic #fyp #foryoupage #geracaotiktok #glastonbury
♬ som original – vönburen🎧 – vönburen🎧

7. Clearblue: Themes of pregnancy and generational trauma. Lorde says, “Clearblue is about unprotected sex and just this experience of like taking a pregnancy test and this like flood of emotions that goes through your body, whatever you want it to say”.

8. GRWM: Themes of growth and commitment. Speculated to stand for “Get Ready With Me” but actually stands for Grown Woman. Lorde says, “It’s my ‘fuckgirl’ song”.

9. Broken Glass: Themes of body image and exhaustion. Lorde says, “I was so scared to be like, Blah! But my eating disorder. Blah!”.

10. If She Could See Me Now: Themes of strength and moving on. Described as a reflection on her journey as an artist, and as a person. How far she has come, and how much she has changed from when she began writing music.

11. David: Themes of betrayal, fear of rejection, and control. Lorde says, “There’s a lot of strength to this album and I always felt that the end needed to be a real breakdown of that. I feel completely vulnerable on that song”.

@tavyio
lorde : “david” [live debut at glastonbury festival 2025] •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• #lorde #alternative #pop #underground #undergroundmusic #fyp #foryoupage #geracaotiktok #glastonbury #virginlorde
♬ original sound – vönburen🎧 – vönburen🎧

Long-time Lorde fans have provided mostly positive feedback on the album, claiming they enjoy the vulnerability and intimacy created in the lyrics, and the more experimental sound. Though, some fans have commented critically on repetitive themes and slower pacing taking them ‘out’ of the listening experience. Additionally, there seems to be a divide between fans regarding who enjoys her ‘old’ music more than the sound on Virgin.

Lorde is playing the songs from Virgin on her “Ultrasound World Tour”, beginning on September 17^th in Austin Texas. The Tour is planned to visit 20 countries, including Australia in February 2026. Tickets are almost sold out, showing Lorde that she is still widely loved, no matter how transparently she tells her story.