Lorde - Virgin

Lorde's Virgin is her most exposed record yet, a bracing return to electronic pop that comes with an accompanying booklet on this vinyl edition.

Her fourth album, out in 2025, followed the sun-dappled folk of Solar Power with something rawer and more urgent. Co-produced with Jim-E Stack, with contributions from Dan Nigro and Dev Hynes among others, it wrestles with a breakup, a move to New York City and a struggle with an eating disorder. Even the artwork, an X-ray image, signals a record determined to show what lies beneath the surface.

Lead single "What Was That" pulses with the nervy, synth-lit rush that made her early work so thrilling, capturing the dizzy aftermath of a relationship's end. "Man of the Year" is a striking meditation on identity and gender, building from a hush to a roar, while opener "Hammer" pushes forward on a restless, propulsive beat. "David" closes the record on a reflective, unguarded note.

The production is lean and transparent, letting her voice sit right up front, close enough to feel almost uncomfortably intimate at times.

At just over half an hour, Virgin is short and painfully honest, and it rewards repeat listening, revealing a little more of its candour with every new spin.