Latest news with #PureHeroine
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Critics call Lorde's ‘Virgin' both a ‘reinvention' and ‘a return to bangers'
Four years after her pandemic-induced pivot to sunshine and acoustic guitars on Solar Power, Lorde has returned with her fourth album, Virgin. Behind the scenes, the Kiwi pop star changed up producers, leaving behind recent collaborator Jack Antonoff, but the first reviews for Virgin are heralding the return of the old Lorde (in some ways, at least). Vulture's Craig Jenkins frames the album as a response to the release of Solar Power and celebrates its understanding of the singer's audience. More from Gold Derby Marge lives! Here are 3 other 'Simpsons' characters that returned from the grave - and 3 who stayed dead Fast cars vs. killer dolls: 'F1,' 'M3GAN 2.0' gear up for box-office showdown "Everything about Virgin, Lorde's fourth album, feels like a reaction to trials preceding and following Solar Power," he writes. "Virgin is rife with epiphanies earned in tussles with one's own established persona. But these cerebral dispatches realize their audience often experiences the work communally and tends to enjoy it most when accompanied by flowing synths and insistent drums. Pure Heroine and Melodrama left indelible marks on mainstream music; Lorde is instrumental to the 21st-century whisper-singer epidemic. Heroine's lean minimalism is one of many sonic precursors to the commercial breakthrough of Taylor Swift's 1989 and thus kin to its many scion. Virgin is a return to bangers." And while the sound may be something more akin to the tracks off of Pure Heroine and Melodrama, there's a strong consensus that Virgin represents a lyrics and sonic evolution for Lorde. "The result is nearly 40 minutes of undeniable pop bangers and jagged synth flashes where Lorde wipes parts of her past clean and makes room for the adult she has crystallized into," writes Rolling Stone's Maya Georgi. "Since [Solar Power], fans have clamored for Lorde to return to the swooping, alternative synth-pop that defined her early career, which means the stakes are particularly high for Virgin. She has answered the call with an album that isn't trying to capture something from the past, but instead leans into the chaos of reinvention." A significant element of the changes present in Virgin's lyrical content seems to be the natural passage of time. Lorde broke onto the scene with "Royals" at the age of 16. For those keeping track at home, that was 12 years ago. "You could call Virgin a coming-of-age album for Lorde's late 20s. It's as if she's finally realized that to come of age is actually a messy, lifelong process — that as sturdy as you think your sense of self is, it'll keep snagging on things that unravel it," writes NPR's Hazel Cillis. "As familiar as Virgin might sound at first play, the Lorde here isn't — and that's a good thing. 'Who's gon' love me like this?' Lorde sings on 'Man of the Year,' in the throes of a breakup. 'Now I'm broken open?' The old Lorde would never sing that. The old Lorde would never even let us see her break." While some critics, like Paste's Matt Mitchell, find the return to bangers as somewhat of a step down in ambition, the move doesn't keep Virgin from being a major piece of work. "Musically, it's the least-ambitious album Lorde has ever made, thanks to her avoidance of the big hooks and explosive resolutions that pop orthodoxy demands," he writes. "But, in an undeniably personal collection of songs full of clichés and gestures toward conversations around earthly desires, gender, and habitual living, it's Ella Yelich O'Connor's most important statement yet." And since this is a Lorde album — which is to say that it's influential — there's a utility in digging through Virgin to see where it will inevitably lead pop music for the next few years. "Obviously, Virgin is very autobiographical and a bit of an elaborate self-cleanse, but it's also the sound of a person in the second half of their twenties finding wisdom and themselves," writes Variety's Jem Aswad. "And judging by how often in the past few years she's been cited as a major influence by young female artists, it will be interesting to see how far this album reaches." Best of Gold Derby Billboard 200: Chart-topping albums of 2025 Billboard Hot 100: Every No. 1 song of 2025 The B-52s' Kate Pierson talks Rock Hall snub, influencing John Lennon, and fears a solo album would be a 'betrayal' to her band Click here to read the full article.
Atlantic
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
Lorde Is Looking in the Mirror. Again.
Has the internet sucked all the fun out of the physical world, or has it merely concentrated it in Washington Square Park? New York University's de facto campus green has long served as an open-air salon for bohemians and drug dealers, but since the coronavirus pandemic, it's buzzed with new energy—the energy of content creation. TikTokers patrol the park's paths, ambushing passersby to ask for interviews. Video-game streamers lead fans around ' like a Pied Piper.' Timothée Chalamet went there to check out his own look-alike competition. The veil between the online and offline realms feels thin as Zoomers socialize in their Zoomer way: playful, anarchic, yet always aware of the camera. Lorde is there too. The 28-year-old pop eccentric claims to have been hanging out in Washington Square Park 'every day' of late. In April, she caused a commotion there by blasting her new single to a crowd of fans while filming a guerrilla-style music video. Her propulsive fourth album, Virgin, is set amid the heat-radiating pavement of the park and its downtown-Manhattan surroundings. The exemplary voice for a generation beset by digitally induced isolation, Lorde is making a bold effort to celebrate the visceral by singing of flesh, spit, sweat, blood, and cigarette smoke. But the rush she wants to deliver is diluted by another modern problem: self-consciousness verging on self-obsession. Lorde changed the world when she was just a 16-year-old New Zealander uploading music to SoundCloud. Her 2013 debut, Pure Heroine, used hissed confessions, minimalistic beats, and a writerly sense of narrative to refute its era's abundance of body-over-brain EDM and hip-hop. Many of her listeners were kids in the very same situation that Lorde sang about: stuck in a bedroom in their anonymous town, alienated from the high life advertised on their screens. The influence of that album—and its smoldering 2017 follow-up, Melodrama —still shapes the work of Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and even Taylor Swift. The point of post-Lorde pop isn't to get faceless crowds grooving mindlessly. It's to make each individual fan feel like their life is a movie. Lorde then disoriented her audience with 2021's Solar Power, a warm sigh of an album from a star enjoying some well-deserved relaxation. Its strummy songs about fleeing Hollywood to get high on a New Zealand beach contained some of the most beautiful craftsmanship of her career. But fans who'd always related to her started to feel left out of the story she was telling: Lorde was slowing down and leaning out at a time of life, her early 20s, when people tend to speed up and lean in. For many listeners, traits that had been essential to her art all along—overwroughtness, sentimentality, affectation—stopped seeming so cute. Virgin is, as its name suggests, a purposeful regression, a return to youthful possibility. The sound is electronic and rhythmically driven; the singing trembles with desire and confusion. But Virgin also reflects where Lorde finds herself in her late 20s, and where pop finds itself in the mid-2020s. Following the example of Charli XCX's Brat and its avant-garde influences, the producer Jim-E Stack has fashioned fun beats out of distorted noise. Lorde sings about a transitional period of womanhood marked by pregnancy tests, gender-identity explorations, body-image issues, crises of confidence, and a shattering breakup with her partner of seven years. The action is as spiritual as it is physical: 'I might have been born again,' she sings on the opener. The ensuing songs are laden with so many religious references that one wonders if she's joined an unconventional church in which singing about kinky sex and party drugs is a sacrament. More likely, Lorde is just trying to lend enchantment to her 21st-century yuppie routine. The titanium water bottle she carries around is, she's said in interviews, a ' talisman.' Her smartphone is, per one lyric, 'liquid crystal.' As she pumps iron and meditates on heartbreak, she seems to imagine her younger self looking down like an 'angel.' She confesses to having treated her ex like God—but now, it's clear, Lorde's lord is Lorde. The album's best moments transmit the magic she's singing about. The bleary garage beat of 'Shapeshifter' creates a sense of twilight intrigue building to dawn-breaking revelation. On 'If She Could See Me Now,' rigid-feeling verses melt satisfyingly into swaying choruses. When Lorde's voice merges with waves of reverb on the gut-punch closer, 'David,' you might check to see if the music is coming from outside, not inside, your headphones. Throughout, she uses conversational cadences to steer through hairpin emotional turns without making anyone dizzy. Too often, though, Virgin 's thrill is muddled or muted. In part, blame Stack's production: The trappings of sonic radicalism and aggression—industrial guitars that hum like broken TVs, percussion that pounds from all directions—belie what's essentially smooth, streamable fare. Now-tired 2010 fads that Lorde pioneered, including bittersweet tropical-pop textures and moaning vocal snippets, are everywhere. Moments of genuine surprise and extremity are rare. An album that presents itself as stark and liberated feels too much like a product of creative compromise. Against this backdrop, Lorde's insularity starts to wear on the listener. This album about exciting city life is really about Lorde finding herself wherever she goes—in the aura reader on Canal Street, in the shirt her hookup is wearing, in the endorphin epiphany she has at the gym. She sings of ego death and punching mirrors, but only as part of a process of ever-more-granular inward inspection that's intense but ultimately circular. Whatever's happening in the broader world is written off as 'painted faces' babbling about 'current affairs.' As the album cover indicates, Virgin is an X-ray that highlights what's not there. So much of recent pop music is like this—hyperspecifically self-involved—precisely because of Lorde's influence. But Virgin suggests this once-exciting approach is starting to become redundant and rote, reflecting a culture in which introspection has supplanted any sense of common purpose, and no one can tell the difference between living life and performing it. In Lorde's early days, she sang a lot about 'we,' a generational cohort beating back alienation together. Virgin is all 'I'—but a breakthrough awaits when she or one of her talented contemporaries turns their lens outward.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lorde Summer Officially Arrives With New Album ‘Virgin'
Lorde is finally back, as Virgin, the New Zealand superstar's first album in nearly four years, officially released on Friday. Lorde preceded the new album with the singles 'What Was That,' 'Man of the Year,' and 'Hammer,' the latter of which also serves as Virgin's opening track. So far, 'What Was That' has been the most popular song, charting at 36 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and amassing over 80 million streams on Spotify. The prospect of new music has helped boost her catalog as well, as 'Ribs,' her much-beloved track from debut album Pure Heroine, finally charted on the Hot 100 back in May after her viral, chaotic pop-up in Washington Square Park back in April. More from The Hollywood Reporter Lalo Schifrin, Acclaimed Composer of 'Mission: Impossible' and 'Mannix' Themes, Dies at 93 Background Performer at Kendrick Lamar Halftime Show Arrested Over Gaza Sudan Flag How Diddy's Right-Hand Woman Became the Phantom of His Trial Virgin follows Lorde's 2021 Solar Power, which represented a bit of a sonic and aesthetic departure from the synth-pop she'd been associated with. Solar Power was more divisive among fans and critics and failed to meet the commercial heights of Pure Heroine or her lauded sophomore album Melodrama. For Virgin, Lorde worked mostly with producer and co-writer Jim-E Stack, who also produced Bon Iver's latest album Sable, Fable. Other contributors on the album include Dan Nigro, producer for Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo, and Buddy Ross, whose credits include tracks for Vampire Weekend, Haim and Frank Ocean among others. Lorde sat down with Zane Lowe for an interview that aired Thursday ahead of Virgin's release, giving a wide-ranging conversation touching on everything from recording 'Hammer' to giving an early peak at the album to Jack Harlow, to addressing becoming a star as a teenager. ' I think for a long time I've tried to be very binary about it,' Lorde told Lowe. 'When I'm in the studio or when I'm in America, I'm an artist. When I go home to New Zealand, I'm not an artist and I turn that part of myself off. It's impossible obviously.' Lorde will be taking her new album on the road later in the fall for the Ultrasound World Tour, which is shaping up to be one of the hottest shows of the year as nearly every date has already sold out. The tour will kick off at the Moody Center in Austin on September 17th. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Elle
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
Lorde Wrote a Heartbreaking Love Letter to Her Mom (and Fans) on 'Virgin'
When Lorde said her new album, Virgin, was about rebirth, I didn't realize it would also be so much about her mom. But I guess it makes sense—no one comes into this world alone. Lorde can't sing about being born again without acknowledging the one who birthed her first. Her mother's imprint is all over the album, from Lorde crying out, 'Mama, I'm so scared,' in 'Current Affairs' to mentions of 'my mama's trauma' in 'GRWM.' You could even argue that her mom, Sonja Yelich, a poet (!), even inspired the singer's style of songwriting. But her influence is deepest on 'Favorite Daughter,' in which Lorde sings about their relationship and her quest to make her proud, even if it took a toll on her. Lines like 'Breaking my back just so you'll say that I'm a star' and 'Panic attack just to be your favorite daughter' are not only gutting, but also relatable, especially for women. Lorde has a special talent for capturing the distinct feelings of coming of age, no matter what age that is. She's depicted various stages of her life vividly in her music, from gritty teenagedom in Pure Heroine to a life-changing heartbreak in Melodrama. As the now 28-year-old enters her Saturn return, Virgin, too, is emblematic of an era: your late 20s. They always say you'll understand your mother as you get older; and this is probably the time when it starts to hit hard. You're drifting farther from the highs of adolescence and becoming what they call 'a grown-up,' entering new stages of your career and relationships, and thinking more seriously about your future. With the prospect of motherhood or settling down on the horizon (if that's your plan), it's likely you'll start to see life through the eyes of your mom—or maybe who she was at your age. After an exhausting day at work, you see why she might've snapped at you for small mistakes. After a heated argument, you might wonder if she could've had the same exchange with her own mother. Maybe it's not full forgiveness, but it is empathy. And Lorde has plenty of empathy for her mother on Virgin. Even as she vents in 'Favorite Daughter,' she praises her mom's bravery and support, pays homage to her late brother, and notes how her own achievements might've been overlooked. ('Why did no one listen when you hit the notes from your heart?') Jumping ahead to 'Clearblue,' she nods to her mom's own generational struggles: 'There's broken blood in me, it passed through my mother from her mother down to me.' 'Favorite Daughter' 'came from very, very deep in me,' Lorde told Zane Lowe in her Apple Music interview, and her mother received the song well. 'And honestly, it's been really beautiful for me and my mom, being able to make that expression and just the way that she received it and the conversations that it's made us have, and we've never been closer,' she added. Lorde also revealed that with Virgin, 'I feel this channel open with my mom, because I mention her constantly on the album. I've never had more empathy and understanding for my mother and her mother and her mother, the sort of lineage of women who have made me what I am. I feel like I came into some real understanding about femininity and womanhood generally, that it really feels like a kind of love letter to my mom in a lot of ways.' Like all things Lorde, this song is layered. It's not just aimed at one person, but 'a composite of people and moments that have kind of brought up a certain feeling for me,' she told Lowe. 'As much as it's about my mom, when I'm saying, 'All the medals I won for you, breaking my back to be your favorite daughter,' I felt that I was also singing to an audience.' Those feelings about 'wanting so badly to be loved and to get this approval and to be the favorite' also apply to being an artist in the public eye. It's quite poignant from a musician whose last album (Solar Power) was brushed aside by the public. Lorde said it was 'moving' that while she was singing about her 'foremost idol,' she was also singing about the pressures of being thrust into the spotlight at 16. As Lorde said, 'Favorite Daughter' is a love letter, but it also doesn't cover up the flaws. It just might inspire listeners to express their own feelings toward their mothers, even if there's no guarantee they'll be met with the same warmth. And for those of us who can't, because of our own nuanced family dynamics, listening to a song like this is perhaps enough solace, knowing that someone has been through the same thing and emerged on the other side reborn. Read the full lyrics to 'Favorite Daughter' below, courtesy of Genius.
Leader Live
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Lorde performs new album Virgin in full in surprise Glastonbury Festival set
The 28-year-old – whose real name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor – took to the Woodsies stage at 11.30am as fans screamed at the top of their voices, before opening with latest single and the record's opening track, Hammer. Masses of festivalgoers had converged on the tent, with a bumper crowd waiting outside. Midway through her set she told the audience: 'How you doing? You OK? 'This is f****** sick, thank you so much for being here with us on the day that Virgin was born. 'We decided to play the whole record for you from front to back. 'No, this record took me a lot, I didn't know if I would make another record to be honest, but I'm back here. 'I'm so thankful to you for waiting for me, thank you for sitting in the sun right now, hope you have a sick f****** Glastonbury.' Waving her shirt to cool down, Virgin's lead single What Was That prompted mass singalongs as flags with the new LP's cover and title waved. Second single Man Of The Year climaxed with Lorde laying down on the floor of the building site-like set, as lasers shot out across the crowd from behind her. Later in the set, she told the massive crowd: 'This is crazy for me too, I hope you understand.' The New Zealand-born singer pulled her top off to finish with a double hit of Ribs from her debut album Pure Heroine, which she said was first played at Glastonbury 2017, and Melodrama's Green Light, which saw the lasers turn from blue to the colour mentioned in the track. The final song prompted a football terrace-style singalong that almost drowned out Lorde herself. Friday crowds update – Click here for info on where you might find busier crowds today -> — Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) June 27, 2025 Virgin is the singer's fourth studio album, with her previous three Pure Heroine (2013), Melodrama (2017) and Solar Power (2021) all reaching the top 10 of the UK albums chart. The singer is best known for songs such as Homemade Dynamite, Solar Power and her second single Royals, which reached number one in the UK singles chart. Elsewhere at the festival, British pop rock band The 1975 will be the first headliners to grace the Glastonbury Festival's Pyramid Stage this year when they perform on Friday evening. Made up of four school friends, the group, known for songs including Chocolate, Someone Else and About You, is comprised of singer Matt Healy, bassist Ross MacDonald, guitarist Adam Hann, and drummer George Daniel. Other Friday performers include: Irish singer CMAT; hip-hop star Loyle Carner; rock band English Teacher; indie band Wet Leg; and Canadian star Alanis Morissette, who will take to the Pyramid Stage after a TBA act which will be performing at 4.55pm. The five-day celebration of music and performing arts, which opened its gates on Wednesday, will also see headline performances from veteran rocker Neil Young and his band the Chrome Hearts, and US pop star Olivia Rodrigo. The BBC confirmed on Thursday that Young's Saturday Pyramid Stage set will not be broadcast live 'at the artist's request'. This year's line-up features a number of acts listed as TBA, as well as a mysterious act called Patchwork, which will take to the Pyramid Stage on Saturday. Festivalgoers have so far seen a clear morning after significant rainfall overnight, with temperatures reaching the mid-20s, according to the Met Office. Rain made small areas of the site damp in the early hours of Friday morning, but hot weather has since dried it. Spokesman Stephen Dixon told the PA news agency: 'Friday should start relatively sunny, with temperatures reaching into the mid-20s. However, there will be a touch more cloud later in the day and into the evening.' Looking ahead to the weekend, the Met Office's Grahame Madge said: 'Heat and humidity will be building over the weekend. We anticipate highs of 26C on Saturday, with high levels of humidity. By Monday temperatures can be anticipated to be over 30C. 'There is always the chance of a light shower, but there is nothing in the forecast that suggests anything heavier for Saturday for Somerset.' Avon and Somerset Police said there had been 38 crimes reported at the festival with 14 arrests made. Friday's line-up of events also includes a Q&A featuring Australian actress Margot Robbie at Pilton Palais and a Mountainhead Q&A with Jesse Armstrong, along with performances from psychedelic rockers Osees and Britpop veterans Supergrass. Saturday will see Irish rap trio Kneecap, who have seen one of their members charged with a terror offence, perform on the West Holts Stage at 4pm. Before the festival, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it would not be 'appropriate' for them to perform their slot at Worthy Farm. Rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh was charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year. Last week, the 27-year-old, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in 'Free Mo Chara' T-shirts. He was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on August 20. On Thursday evening, the rap trio posted a film they executive produced to social media, titled Stop The Genocide, which includes testimonies from a Palestinian activist and plastic surgeon on the war in Gaza. With a sunny few days predicted here at Worthy Farm, please take a moment to read this advice on staying safe in the heat. #Glastonbury2025 — Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) June 27, 2025 Performing in the coveted Sunday legends slot this year is Sir Rod Stewart, who previously said he will be joined by his former Faces band member Ronnie Wood, as well as some other guests. Sir Rod's performance will come after he postponed a string of concerts in the US, due to take place this month, while he recovered from flu. In celebration of his legends slot at the festival Southern Western Railway has unveiled a new plaque at Twickenham railway station, where it is said that, years ago, he happened upon blues singer and band leader, Long John Baldry, who he later played with in the Hoochie Coochie Men Among the other acts expected to draw large crowds this year is pop star Charli XCX, who is engaged to The 1975 drummer Daniel and will perform songs from her sixth studio album, Brat. She is performing on Saturday night on the Other Stage, 15 minutes before the West Holts stage is graced by US rapper Doechii, another artist who has exploded in popularity in the last year. Other performers include: Prada singer Raye; US musician Brandi Carlile; Nile Rodgers and Chic; US pop star Gracie Abrams; Mercury Prize-winning jazz quintet Ezra Collective; US rapper Denzel Curry; and rising star Lola Young. This year, the BBC will provide livestreams of the five main stages: Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Woodsies and The Park.
