Lorde Paints Vivid Descriptions on Newly Revealed ‘Virgin’ Track List

Lorde is packing her forthcoming studio album, Virgin, with visceral feelings. She recently described the lyrics on the record, out June 27, as being “right on the edge of gross,” leaning into the “grotesque nature” of garnering an intimate understanding of her body. With the record still a few weeks away, Lorde has painted some vivid descriptions of the “gnarliness or grossness” she explores with the complete 11-song album track list.

The two songs that have been released from Virgin so far, the spinning pop record “What Was That” and the more gritty single “Man of the Year,” appear on the first half of the track list, staggered in between currently unreleased songs. “Hammer” opens the record, while Lorde gives more texture to the album with other titles like “Shapeshifter,” “Broken Glass,” “Clearblue,” and more.

There’s a personal edge to some of the titles, too. “Favourite Daughter” follows “Man of the Year” at the mid-way mark. The second half of the album also features songs titled “If She Could See Me Now” and “David.” Even “GRWM,” popular shorthand for “Get Ready With Me,” situates the listener in an acute and particular awareness of the body and how it can be dressed up, or down, on the basis of its title alone.

“[I’ve] been in the same body [my] whole life,” Lorde said in her Rolling Stone cover story. “I understood it. I was like, ‘These arms climbed the jungle gym. And they held an award on a TV show.’ I understood the whole spectrum of it and began to enjoy the complexity and ruggedness.” With this came an introspective shift. “My gender got way more expansive when I gave my body more room,” she said.

Virgin Track List
1. “Hammer”
2. “What Was That”
3. “Shapeshifter”
4. “Man of the Year”
5. “Favourite Daughter”
6. “Current Affairs”
7. “Clearblue”
8. “GRWM”
9. “Broken Glass”
10. “If She Could See Me Now”
11. “David”