Lorde Announces Fourth Album, ‘Virgin’

After another four year wait, Lorde is back with a new album. She announced Virgin, out June 27, on social media.

In a text blast to her fans, Lorde shared the credits for the album. It was produced by her and Jim-E Stack with contributions from Dev Hynes, Daniel Nigro, Fabiana Palladino, Andrew Aged, and Buddy Ross. “100% written in blood,” she added. The album cover looks to be an x-ray of a pelvis, with a visible belt buckle and IUD in the blue tint.

Lorde kicked off this era with a bang when she previewed her new song “What Was That” in Washington Square Park last week. She had announced a fan event via text blast, and by the designated start time of 7 p.m., so many people had filled up the park that the cops came and shut the whole thing down. She performed the song a couple hours later for the part of the crowd who stuck around.

The event ended up being a scene in the music video, which came out two days later. Over the weekend, “What Was That” topped the Spotify U.S. charts, her first song to do so since “Royals,” from 2012.

In a voice note she shared with her fans before releasing “What Was That,” Lorde teased how she feels about her new era. “I’ve never felt more intentional with every single piece of what I’m doing,” she said, adding, “There’s such a deep ethos behind all of it, and it all braids together in the end.” The singer also called the single “one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” before explaining its importance: “I really think this song is the music of my rebirth.”

The new album follows her 2021 release Solar Power. She described the album as her “weed album” and co-produced it with Jack Antonoff (who had previously worked with her on 2017’s Melodrama) and Malay. Outside of touring Solar Power, Lorde has popped up to release new music very rarely. She covered Talking Heads’ “Take Me to the River” for a Stop Making Sense tribute album and appeared on the remix of Charli XCX’s Brat track “Girl, so confusing.”