Produced by Lorde alongside Jim-E Stack, Virgin marked a return to electronic-based sounds following an indie folk pivot on 2021's Solar Power. The album charted in the top five in various countries, and reached number one in Australia, Austria, New Zealand, Scotland and the United Kingdom, becoming Lorde's first album to top the UK Albums Chart. To support the album, Lorde is set to embark on the Ultrasound World Tour from September 2025 to February 2026.
Background
Lorde released her third studio album, Solar Power, in August 2021 to polarising reviews from music critics and the public.[1] In an email sent to fans via her newsletter subscription in 2022, the singer stated that the reception the album received was "really painful" and "confounding" to process at times, while further stating that she had learned a lot about her public image in the year since the album's release.[2] In July 2022, at her show at Roundhouse in London, Lorde told the audience that she was getting closer to writing anthemic pop songs, stating that the "banger will always be on the horizon".[3] The following year, Lorde told Ensemble that she had a "light on inside her" and that she wanted to "move as quick" as she can to release her next album, forgoing her usual long stretches of time in between her album releases.[4]
In March 2023, Lorde was announced as the headliner for a series of festivals in Europe. During these festivals, the singer began performing reworked versions of songs from her discography,[5] which included incorporating more electronic elements to Solar Power's original guitar-based melodies; she also performed two new songs, tentatively titled "Invisible Ink" and "Silver Moon" at Boardmasters Festival in the United Kingdom.[6] She also performed at All Together Now in Ireland,[7]Øyafestivalen in Norway,[8]Flow Festival in Finland,[9]Sziget Festival in Hungary,[10] and Paredes de Coura Festival in Portugal.[11] The performances for these festivals received widespread acclaim from critics.[12] This string of performances was dubbed by Lorde as the "night vision edition" of the Solar Power Tour.[13]
Virgin has been described as dance-pop and a return to Lorde's "signature" synth-pop sound.[24][25][26] The album incorporates a sample of the song "Morning Love" by Dexta Daps and an interpolation of the song "Suga Suga" by Baby Bash featuring Frankie J.[27] In an interview with Billboard, Dexta Daps reacted to the sampling of his song: "My team was so excited, they didn't even reach out to me. They just accepted it! I mean, it’s Lorde! What's the sense of reaching out to me? I'm gonna say 'yes' anyways. I just recently heard the song, and, man, it is so beautiful."[28]
Title and artwork
The artwork, photographed by Heji Shin, depicts an X-ray image of a pelvis with a belt buckle, pant button, pant zipper, and IUD.[22][29] Lorde said she viewed X-ray, MRI, and ultrasound as ways of capturing "techy but like mystical" images.[30] In an announcement on her website, Lorde, who has synesthesia, stated that imagery of bathwater, ice, saliva and windows influenced her decision to have a transparent "colour" for the album, describing it as representing "full transparency". She further stated that Virgin was her attempt to "make a document" that reflected her femininity, which she described as "raw, primal, innocent, elegant, openhearted, spiritual, masc".[31]
Lorde alluded to possible meanings of the title through screenshots shared on her Instagram. She shared it could represent a woman that is "not attached to a man, [...] that is one—in-herself", a result of combining Latin words from man (vir) and woman (gyne) relating 'virgin' to androgyny, or the word to purity as in 'virgin metals'.[32][33] Lorde would state in an interview that she associates the title as not being representative of sexual purity, but to things that are essential and untainted.[30]
The physical vinyl edition of the album features an image of Lorde's bare crotch through transparent pants photographed by Talia Chetrit.[34][35] Alex Greenberger of ARTnews wrote that the image "speaks to Virgin's broader concerns with how much one is meant to reveal of their inner self, specifically when it comes to gender", adding that it also "points up a contradiction: though Lorde has left little of her torso to the imagination, we still can't see aspects of her gender identity."[34] The vinyl edition of the album was sold with a parental advisory warning for adult imagery.[36]
Promotion
On 24 April 2025, Lorde released "What Was That", her first original single release as a solo artist in nearly four years. The song acted as the lead single from her then-unannounced fourth album.[37] An accompanying music video was filmed in New York City, and included footage of a surprise performance at Washington Square Park earlier that week.[38] The Washington Square Park event attracted media attention after it was initially shut down by the NYPD due to overcrowding and a lack of permits required for hosting a public concert in New York City.[39][40][41] She announced the 11-track album on 30 April and revealed further information through her social media, detailing the release and contributors.[42]
Lorde announced the album's track listing on 28 May.[43] The following day, "Man of the Year" was released as the album's second single, alongside an accompanying music video.[43] On 18 June, Lorde posted a video captioned "Virgin in ten days another song in a few". The following day, the album's third single, "Hammer", was announced.[44] On 22 June, five days before the album's release, Lorde debuted the album for fans in the Brooklyn bar Baby's All Right in an event live-streamed on TikTok.[45] The album's marketing style has been likened to guerrilla marketing strategies, consisting of frequent pop-up events in unconventional venues in various cities, including Auckland, Sydney, London, and New York City.[46][47][48]
Lorde performed the album in full on its release day in an unannounced performance at Glastonbury Festival 2025.[49]
Shortly after release, fans reported that the clear CD physical edition, which featured a fully transparent disc, did not work in some systems, including car stereos, portable CD players, game consoles, CD recorders, multi-disc changers, slot-loading players, and older players.[50][51][52]
Upon its release, Virgin was met with acclaim from music critics. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Virgin received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 from 20 critic scores.[55] The review aggregator site AnyDecentMusic? compiled 20 reviews and gave the album an average of 7.9 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[54]
Olivia Horn of Pitchfork wrote that while the album is "rooted somewhat in [Lorde's] past, it's a gritty, tender, and often transcendent ode to freedom and transformation", adding that "the whole thing is pregnant with possibility, blissfully abstract, ripe for interpretation. It feels like a portal to anywhere you want to go."[62] Maya Georgi of Rolling Stone wrote that Lorde "redefines who she wants to be on her most introspective record yet", adding that she "isn't trying to capture something from the past, but instead leans into the chaos of reinvention."[26] Jem Aswad of Variety praised the "electronics-dominated" production, which "matches the lyrics perfectly, rising and receding with the emotions, pulling back or piling on for impact."[63]The Guardian'sAlexis Petridis wrote that "the sound of Virgin is noticeably unsettled and rough", and added that Lorde's songwriting remains as "skilful and incisive" as it was on Pure Heroine (2013).[58]The Skinny's Rhys Morgan praised Lorde's songwriting and wrote: "While it may not break entirely new ground, this album's embrace of mordant textures and restrained warmth ... cements it as consistently compelling and quietly brilliant."[64]
In a mixed review, Paolo Ragusa of Consequence wrote that "the challenge of Virgin, especially given its brevity, is that it fails to leave a strong impression" because "even with Lorde's vocal conviction, the melodies often lack stickiness and tend to meander."[57]NME's Alex Rigotti thought that "sonically, Lorde takes some big swings without losing sight of who she is" on the album, although "there are moments where the production feels slightly misjudged."[60]The Arts Desk's James Mellen wrote: "Highlights are in the more upbeat and up-tempo tracks, but aside from 'What Was That' nothing reaches real-deal classic pop single territory. Virgin is a solid effort, but mainly it's all mellow and no drama."[65]
Commercial performance
Oceania
In Lorde's home country, New Zealand, Virgin debuted at number one on the Official Top 40 Albums chart, marking her fourth consecutive number one album. Furthermore, the album also debuted at number one in Australia on the ARIA Top 50 Albums chart, thus earning Lorde her fourth consecutive number one album in both countries.[66][67]
International
In the United States, Virgin debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 71,000 album equivalent-units. Of that sum, 42,000 were from pure album sales, which consisted of 31,000 vinyl sales, earning Lorde her largest sales week since her 2017 studio album Melodrama, as well has her largest week on vinyl ever.[68][69]
"Current Affairs" contains a sample of "Morning Love", written by Louis Anthony Grandison, Craig Harrisingh, David Harrisingh, and performed by Dexta Daps.[27]
↑ O'Connor, Roisin; White, Adam; Chilton, Louis; Nugent, Annabel (16 November 2024). "The 20 best songs of 2024, ranked". The Independent. Archived from the original on 16 November 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
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