Lorde has released three albums, but it’s been so long since she dropped one that her fourth full-length effort, Virgin — which the star announced at long last Wednesday (April 30) — might just make you feel like she’s doing it for the very first time.
The New Zealand native shared the news via a posting on her website, revealing the LP’s blue-toned cover art and sharing that it will arrive June 27. “100% WRITTEN IN BLOOD,” she wrote, revealing that the project’s collaborators include Jim-E Stack, Fabiana Palladino, Andrew Aged, Buddy Ross, Dan Nigro and Dev Hynes of Blood Orange.
The album’s artwork marks Lorde’s first since 2013’s debut project, Pure Heroine, to not feature the “Royals” singer on the cover. Instead, the photo shows what appears to be an X-ray of a crotch area with a zipper showing up on the scan in the front; between the bones that make up the pelvis, an IUD is visible.
In a release, Lorde further teased the direction of the record. “THE COLOUR OF THE ALBUM IS CLEAR,” she wrote in an all-caps statement. “LIKE BATHWATER, WINDOWS, ICE, SPIT. FULL TRANSPARENCY. THE LANGUAGE IS PLAIN AND UNSENTIMENTAL. THE SOUNDS ARE THE SAME WHEREVER POSSIBLE. I WAS TRYING TO SEE MYSELF, ALL THE WAY THROUGH. I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A DOCUMENT THAT REFLECTED MY FEMININITY: RAW, PRIMAL, INNOCENT, ELEGANT, OPENHEARTED, SPIRITUAL, MASC.”
“I’M PROUD AND SCARED OF THIS ALBUM,” she added. “THERE’S NOWHERE TO HIDE. I BELIEVE THAT PUTTING THE DEEPEST PARTS OF OURSELVES TO MUSIC IS WHAT SETS US FREE.”
The announcement comes just more than a week after Lorde dropped Virgin‘s lead single, “What Was That,” on April 24. The track arrived with an accompanying music video filmed in New York City, featuring footage of the singer meeting up with fans in Washington Square Park.
Lorde hasn’t released an album since 2021’s Solar Power, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
See Lorde’s announcement below.
www.billboard.com
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