The New Zealand singer’s fourth album, ‘Virgin’, is a transitional album mistakenly marketed as a comeback. Though its individual strands don't often cohere, they remain fascinating.
jealous of your prose as always! i think the album started sticking more for me after like 10 listens and somehow “what was that” makes more sense in context than it did as a lead single. i feel like most of the tracks have a hard time standing alone (melodrama does not have this problem obvs) but as a whole package virgin is quite satisfying so thank god it’s only 34 minutes…
Totally agree that it's gotten better with time. Agree, though; I haven't listened to songs like Shapeshifter and GRWM outside of the context of the album tbh
Totally agree with your take. There are some really amazing moments that I wish had been developed and fleshed out further. I read in one of the interviews she did that she was trying to be as explicit as possible with the lyricism, saying that she didn't feel the need to prove she was smart or poetic, she just wanted to say exactly what she wanted to say. Which, go off queen, but imo it undercut a lot of the potential in the album and made some moments feel cringey/flat. I'm very interested to see how this album ages!!
Yes! I get what she's trying to do with the more direct lyricism, but there's a way of doing it while still being meaningful. Brat last year was full of this kind of lyricism - 'We had a conversation on the way home, should I stop my birth control? Because my career feels so small in the existential scheme of it all' is not necessarily poetic or opaque in terms of syntax, but still has that emotional impact. Feels like Lorde was going for a similar thing here, and she gets there sometimes! 'I rode you 'til I cried' is one of the best lyrics she's ever written lol
Loved your insights! I find it very cringe when eating disorders get addressed in songs lol, so broken glass is not a fave, though I think it'll grow on me. I agree on the David take, one of Lorde's best.
In my opinion, Virgin does a very good job of following the Solar Power (which I loved). She's changing and it doesn't always land, but it's unmistakably Lorde.
jealous of your prose as always! i think the album started sticking more for me after like 10 listens and somehow “what was that” makes more sense in context than it did as a lead single. i feel like most of the tracks have a hard time standing alone (melodrama does not have this problem obvs) but as a whole package virgin is quite satisfying so thank god it’s only 34 minutes…
Totally agree that it's gotten better with time. Agree, though; I haven't listened to songs like Shapeshifter and GRWM outside of the context of the album tbh
this review is so gooood thank you for writing it
Totally agree with your take. There are some really amazing moments that I wish had been developed and fleshed out further. I read in one of the interviews she did that she was trying to be as explicit as possible with the lyricism, saying that she didn't feel the need to prove she was smart or poetic, she just wanted to say exactly what she wanted to say. Which, go off queen, but imo it undercut a lot of the potential in the album and made some moments feel cringey/flat. I'm very interested to see how this album ages!!
Yes! I get what she's trying to do with the more direct lyricism, but there's a way of doing it while still being meaningful. Brat last year was full of this kind of lyricism - 'We had a conversation on the way home, should I stop my birth control? Because my career feels so small in the existential scheme of it all' is not necessarily poetic or opaque in terms of syntax, but still has that emotional impact. Feels like Lorde was going for a similar thing here, and she gets there sometimes! 'I rode you 'til I cried' is one of the best lyrics she's ever written lol
Loved your insights! I find it very cringe when eating disorders get addressed in songs lol, so broken glass is not a fave, though I think it'll grow on me. I agree on the David take, one of Lorde's best.
In my opinion, Virgin does a very good job of following the Solar Power (which I loved). She's changing and it doesn't always land, but it's unmistakably Lorde.