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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lorde's new album 'Virgin' is messy, emotional, and perfectly suited for the moment
Lorde released her fourth studio album, "Virgin," on Friday. The lyrics are frank and transparent, tackling knotty topics like sex, drugs, and eating disorders. The album's themes reflect a cultural shift away from polish and toward authenticity. For most of us, the first words we heard come out of Lorde's mouth took the shape of a disavowal: "I've never seen a diamond in the flesh." Lorde wrote "Royals" in 30 minutes when she was 15 years old. Growing up in New Zealand, disillusioned with materialism and flex culture — especially in the US — she proudly cast herself as a distant observer. She saw, she understood, but she didn't participate. This posture resonated with millions. "Royals" topped the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for nine weeks. The smash hit was later certified diamond and won two Grammy Awards, including song of the year. Lorde has spent much of her career being portrayed as elusive and infallible by fans and media outlets alike. She tends to release an album every four years, and in between, she retreats from the spotlight. Even her stage name (Lorde's real name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor) evokes an office that's separate and superior. But a lot has changed since "Royals" was released as a single in 2013, just a few years after Instagram was launched. At the time, the platform was generally used for sharing one perfectly posed (and heavily filtered) photo at a time. Now, Instagram timelines look much less curated, with the savviest social media enthusiasts sharing unrefined "photo dumps" and spontaneous Instagram Stories instead. Pop culture has tilted dramatically in favor of relatability, transparency, and authenticity, too. Consumers no longer demand polish, poise, or aloof nonchalance from celebrities. "Mess is in," DJ Louie XIV, music critic and host of the Pop Pantheon podcast, recently told me while discussing the state of pop music. Several of last year's biggest hits corroborate his thesis: Taylor Swift embraced chaos and lust in writing "The Tortured Poets Department," and it became the best-selling album of her career. Chappell Roan canceled concerts, shared off-the-cuff videos on TikTok, scolded photographers on red carpets, and then won best new artist at the Grammys. Charli XCX's summer-defining album "Brat" — which the singer described as "my flaws, my fuck ups, my ego all rolled into one" — offers perhaps the clearest example of how this aesthetic has taken over. "Even Charli's outfits are tattered. She can't sing except in autotune. The whole album is about emotional messiness," Louie said. Charli XCX even recruited Lorde for a remix of the track "Girl, So Confusing," to hash out their long-simmering tension in real time. For the new wave of pop stars, he added, fans "seeing the seams is a plus." Lorde has surely noticed this trend because there's plenty of mess in her fourth album, "Virgin," released on Friday. Gone is the detached, enigmatic attitude from Lorde's debut album, when she insisted, "I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there." Now, she won't only throw her hands up, but she'll admit to getting them dirty, just like the rest of us. Lorde has said that "Virgin" represents a sort of rebirth — a newfound willingness to follow her gut and experience the world without a protective veil. The album's 11 tracks tackle an array of knotty topics, from enjoying unprotected sex ("Clearblue") and yearning for her mother's approval ("Favourite Daughter") to dabbling with drugs ("What Was That") and struggling with an eating disorder ("Broken Glass"). Lorde's honest lyricism is punctuated with palpable details: a discarded at-home pregnancy test, a dead uncle whom she resembles, blown-up pupils, and rotting teeth. These images make her life feel real and human. "Mystique is dead," she sings bluntly. This is not to say Lorde has never used personal details in her music. However, her last two albums, "Melodrama" and "Solar Power," offered confessions often cloaked in self-conscious theatrics, metaphor, or irony. When Lorde sang, "I can't feel a thing / I keep looking at my mood ring / Tell me how I'm feeling" in the 2021 single "Mood Ring," she was poking fun at the cult of wellness and the blonde caricature she adopted in the music video. By contrast, when she sings, "Take an aura picture, read it, and tell me who I am" in the new album's opening track, "Hammer," it's clear that she's disclosing a raw moment of self-doubt. (And her habit of taking aura photos in New York City's Chinatown is well-documented.) Lorde's "Virgin" co-producer, Jim-E Stack, told GQ how the duo intentionally added sounds that felt raw or jarring to reflect the author's mindset. With AI and modern technology, he pointed out, it's easy for artists to make perfect-sounding records with no hiccups or texture. And when it comes to art, easy usually translates to boring. "That is what's exciting in music right now, and where innovation is happening: People channeling their imperfections and saying stuff that's a little scary," Stack told the publication. "There [are] definitely songs on Ella's record that are like, 'Whoa, can you say this as a pop star?'" He was right to be concerned; a lesser artist wouldn't be able to pull it off. But Lorde can, she should — and she did. Read the original article on Business Insider
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Tā Māui Pōmare day: Sir Richard Faull pays heed to Māori health pioneers
Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), Apirana Ngata, and Maui Pomare at Avondale camp on 20 October, 1914. Photo: public domain Cars lined the streets leading to Ōwae Marae in Waitara on Saturday to celebrate Tā Māui Pōmare, a 20th century medical doctor and New Zealand's first Māori Health Minister. Sir Māui Pōmare Annual Commemorations happen every third Saturday in June at Ōwae Marae, sometimes at Urenui Pā (Ngāti Mutunga). "[He] was a local rangatira and a doctor who was concerned for our people and the infrastructure around how we lived," Manukorihi Pā Reserve trustee and Marae Kaitiaki Roina Graham said. Pōmare (Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Toa) graduated the American Medical Missionary College in Chicago in 1899 and returned to Aotearoa the following year to give back to Māori. In 1911, he was elected to Parliament representing Western Māori and in 1923 he became the Minister of Health. Sir Māui Pōmare died in 1930 in Los Angeles, but was buried at Ōwae Marae. Tā Māui Pōmare statue during the Ōwae Marae carving restorations in 2024. It is where Pōmare was buried Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews Surrounded by mana whenua, Māui Pōmare's great-grandaughter Miria Pōmare, and current Māori doctors, New Zealand's leading neuroscientist Sir Richard Faull (Te Atiawa) gave an impromptu speech paying homage to his heroes Tā Māui Pōmare and Te Rangi Hīroa (Sir Peter Buck). Although Pōmare was New Zealand's first Māori doctor, Te Rangi Hīroa was the first Māori doctor to have graduated in Aotearoa. Te Rangi Hīroa was a Māori medical officer under Pōmare, both came together to improve the sanitation of Māori settlements and the health of the tangata Māori. Faull, a Waitara High School alumni of 1963, said he was a 'book nerd' and was awarded dux and received the Te Rangi Hīroa medal in his final year "That medal is a beacon for me," Faull said. It gave him a nudge into health care. "You can only look after the health of your people by having your people as your leaders, your doctors." Growing up, Faull knew he was Māori, but when he was doing medicine and brain research in the USA at Boston's MIT and Harvard, he needed more financial assistance to continue, so he asked for it in a letter to his dad. His dad wrote back and said kaumātua from Te Atiawa wanted to give him $1000. It was like gold to him, but he didn't "feel Māori" back then and didn't want to accept the offer. Faull recalled the letter from his dad that read 'they have said that you will come home, and they want you to take this [koha]." It stirred his Māori whakapapa. Richard Faull Photo: University of Auckland / CBR In 1986, Faull delivered a speech about Parkinson's and Huntington's disease to a group of people in Taranaki where he noticed a group of Māori from Te Atiawa. The group asked Faull to help them with their Huntington's disease which is an inherited gradual decay of nerve cells in the brain affecting movement, thinking, and emotional problems. "I didn't know how I was going to help them, but they were asking me home." Every year he had met with the whānau from Te Atiawa, but it was during Friday's 'special' hui with them that he was able to deliver assurance. Faull, and other researchers have been working to find a way to 'turn the gene off' that causes Huntington's. "For the first time I gave them hope, for the first time it felt like Māori helping Māori. "We have come home to help our whānau, nothing is going to stop us." Faull had spent 50 years on brain research, and for the past five years he and Dr Makarena Dudley - a clinical neuropsychologist and 'expert' on dementia in kaumātua Māori - have been to 17 different marae to talk to iwi Māori about what they're finding in the neuro space. "We're not there to tell them what to do. We're there to listen to what they need and then we help them," Faull said. Faull was one of many who developed MAPAS (Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme) at the Auckland Medical School to support and increase the number of Māori and Pacific health professionals. According to the Medical Council for New Zealand's most recent data from 31 March, 2025, it's a steady incline for Māori who now make up 5.11 percent of current practicing doctors in Aotearoa. Faull was proud to say his son was a second-year health surgeon in Whangārei who aimed to form a general practice with Māori. "We have to have our Māori doctors to look after our Māori people and that is non-negotiable." "Māui Pōmare knew that. He went out and he turned health around for Māori. Māori were declining in population and Māui Pōmare, Te Rangi Hīroa, Apirana Ngata, they changed the horizon... and that horizon is still threatened." Sir Māui Wiremu Piti Naera Pōmare while a student at Battle Creek College in Michigan, USA, in 1899. Photo: Supplied / Alexander Turnbull Library Te tiriti is the 'goal standard' Faull pleaded to politicians. "It's about partnership. Partnership is not about one partner being dominant over the other partner, it is about shared values, a shared vision, it is about equality for all. "Never forget what partnership is about, it's not about dismantling te tiriti, we are here to honour the words of our ancestors, our tīpuna." He said Māori look to their tīpuna to chart for their future. "Their words, their actions, they did this to guide us. Māui Pōmare did it [and] Te Rangi Hīroa - Sir Peter Buck." Although Faull said it's wonderful to see the number of Māori doctors celebrating the life of Tā Māui Pōmare, there was a big task ahead. "It's not a task that's special or different for Māori, it's a task about giving equity to Māori. About self-expression helping them to determine their future. That is a partnership. "We've come a long way, but we've got so much further to go." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- Science
- RNZ News
Annual New Zealand Garden Bird Survey begins
A Kererū pair in the kōwhai. Photo: Manaaki Whenua/Meg Lipscombe Hundreds of citizen scientists are set for a stint of bird spotting as the annual New Zealand Garden Bird Survey gets underway on Saturday. It's the 19th time that Te Tatauranga o ngā Manu Māra o Aotearoa has been held. From now until 6 July people were encouraged to get out in their garden or go to a local park and look at and listen for birds for one hour, on one day, and record the highest number of each species they notice. The survey's co-ordinator, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research senior researcher Dr Angela Brandt, said the ongoing data collection showed how the trends for each species might be changing over time. The survey reported on 14 different bird species that were most commonly seen in the garden to identify trends within those species. Pīwakawaka (fantail) about to take off in the backyard. Photo: Manaaki Whenua/Graham Murphy Last year's survey found that tūī and pīwakawaka continued to increase, while national declines in silvereye or tauhou lessened. But there were short-term declines for kererū both at the national scale and in seven regions, she said. "What we've noticed, especially in our last two reports, was that three species were starting to show these short-term, five-year declines. "That's the kererū, the goldfinch, and the house sparrow. It's not a cause for alarm necessarily, but it's something that we should pay attention to and we want to see whether those trends start to pick up again or if they continue on that kind of declining end of the spectrum." Brandt said the survey not only provided information about birds and the environment generally, but it boosted participants' wellbeing by getting them outdoor and observing and thinking about nature. "We had people saying it was a good opportunity to slow down. Participants talked about feeling curiosity, joy, fun, wonder and a sense of connection." A Tūī (kōkō) interrupted from its feed. Photo: Manaaki Whenua/Colin Keast It also complemented the monitoring undertaken in conservation areas, she added. "We're asking people to count all the birds they see, so we get a lot of information on the common species [as well as rare and threatened species] and can then see if they're potentially starting to decline. "But also we're also getting information from urban and rural areas where people are, so that covers some different parts of New Zealand to the monitoring efforts going on by our science organisations and experts." For some species there was a lot of variation among regions, she added. "The fantail is a great example of a species that's quite consistent [everywhere] as we're generally seeing increases over the last several years." In contrast the korimako (bellbird) was "quite variable," she said. "Canterbury and Nelson for example, we've had pretty consistent increasing trends for bell birds over the last several years. "But then we actually have some strong decreases in the counts that we've seen in some of our North Island regions such as Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Manawatu." It underscored why survey participation was invaluable, Brandt said. "What's really helpful for us to actually pick up those differences is to get enough people participating in each region, [to] give us that full picture." How to take part in the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey: 1. Visit the NZ Garden Bird Survey website to get started. 2. Select a garden or a local park. 3. Choose any ONE day between 28 June and 6 July. 4. Look and listen for birds on that day for ONE hour. 5. For each species, record the HIGHEST number seen or heard at one time. 6. Submit the results online via the NZ Garden Bird Survey website's Take Part page. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gracie Abrams Has Five Words for Lorde's Newest Album
Gracie Abrams Has Five Words for Lorde's Newest Album originally appeared on Parade. Lorde's long-awaited return to music is finally here. On Friday, the Grammy-winning artist released "Virgin," her fourth studio album and her first release since 2021. Though it was just released at midnight, fans and critics have already been praising her for its bold sound and raw lyrics. With the album just being a little over 35 minutes, the project marks her return to a more electronic and emotionally raw sound, as well as explores the themes of femininity, identity and rebirth. The New Zealand singer co-produced the album with Jim-E Stack. Other collaborators and producers, such as Dev Hynes, Dan Nigro, Fabiana Palladino, Andrew Aged and Buddy Ross, are also featured in the production and writing credits. Among the many fans taking notice is fellow singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams, who had just five words to sum up her reaction to "Virgin." Three hours after the album was released on streaming, the "That's So True" singer reposted it on her Instagram story, with the caption "This is a huge deal." Two hours later, she posted on her Instagram story again a zoomed-up selfie of her and a caption that read "AOTY," which refers to the Grammy's Album of the Year award. Lorde has long been one of Gracie Abrams' biggest inspirations and friends. During the New Zealand stop of her "The Secret of Us Tour" this past April, the 25-year-old paid tribute by performing a heartfelt cover of 'Liability,' a fan-favorite track from Lorde's acclaimed 2017 album "Melodrama." She also told Billboard in a TikTok that Lorde was "one of her favorite people to lean on." Fans can now stream Lorde's "Virgin," which is out now on all streaming platforms. Gracie Abrams Has Five Words for Lorde's Newest Album first appeared on Parade on Jun 27, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
The Mixtape: Matthew Crawley
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. The inimitable Matt Crawley joins Tony Stamp for The RNZ Mixtape. Matthew Crawley at alternative 95bFM, where he does the Monday Drive show. Photo: Aneeka Moheed A promoter, DJ and musician, Crawley cut his teeth on the Aotearoa music scene when he started volunteering at Auckland alternative radio station 95bFM as a teenager. Crawley began Strange News Touring in 2005 with Rueben Bonner. The company has hosted names such as Lucy Dacus, Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Jessica Pratt and Ichiko Aoba, among many others. He was the manager of Auckland's Flying Out Records until 2022, when he left to immerse himself in the promotion side of things. Before that, he was the entertainment manager of legendary bar Golden Dawn. Crawley is also the brains behind comedy punk quartet Thee Golden Geese. The Smashing Pumpkins – Whir PJ Harvey – C'mon Billy
