Latest news with #SolarPower
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Lorde on her fourth studio album Virgin
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. Lorde has a kōrero with Tony Stamp about her just-released album Virgin . Lorde's fourth studio album, Virgin, is out now. Photo: Supplied Featuring singles 'What Was That', 'Man of the Year' and 'Hammer', the album comes four years after the release of Solar Power in 2021. Gossamer textures propel the album forwards. 'Current Affairs' samples Dexta Daps' 'Morning Love' amidst cool, lush synth work and layered reverb-drenched backing vocals. The skipping beat and arpeggiated synth of 'Favourite Daughter' lend a playful air to the song, speaking to the the sonic fluidity and versatility of the album. Gender is a significant theme of Virgin , with Lorde describing herself as 'in the middle gender-wise'. The album cover features an X-ray of a pelvis with a belt buckle, zip and IUD visible. Lorde discusses the creative process of making the album and working with producer Jim-E Stack.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lorde's transparent Virgin CD is apparently bad at producing sound
Can you reach Lorde? No, you can't! At least, not if you try to play the new transparent CD version of her album Virgin. Billboard reports that fans who received the transparent disc, which is the only CD format of Virgin Lorde has sold thus far, weren't able to play the music on most standard CD players. Per the outlet, some have hypothesized that the CD doesn't work precisely because the disc is clear, confusing the optical sensors of older machinery. (Representatives for Lorde did not immediately respond to The A.V. Club's request for comment.) The transparent CD—currently sold out—was offered as a sort of collectible item that complemented the themes of the album; Lorde has described the music itself as transparent and clear. (Her store also has similar vinyl offerings in 'translucent red,' 'clear,' and 'bathwater' colors.) The fully recyclable Virgin CD is also an extension of the environmental practices Lorde put into place during the Solar Power era. For that album, she didn't sell CDs at all, explaining at the time that she 'didn't wanna make something that would end up in a landfill in 2 years, but more than that, I wanted to make something that symbolised my commitment to asking questions of our systems, and making stuff with intention and sensitivity.' Unfortunately, her attempt to compromise with Virgin came at the expense of fans who not only can't play the music on their CD players but also reportedly can't download the files to their computers (The Verge reports one fan noting that 'PC was able to rip, but the files are not great,' adding there was 'distortion and clipping'). Virgin hit shelves on June 27, an album that is 'urgent, immediate, and alive in a way Lorde has never been before—and few of her peers could accomplish,' as this writer opined in The A.V. Club's A review of the record. It's currently projected to be her first number one album on the U.K. charts, while Hits Daily Double predicts it'll debut in the number two slot in the U.S. In a post earlier this week, Lorde alluded to cut tracks from the main record, suggesting that perhaps a deluxe version could be released in the future. Hopefully that one will be playable, if so! More from A.V. Club Why did The Bear put its love of cooking on the back burner? 3 new songs and 3 new albums to check out this weekend The Last Of Us mastermind Neil Druckmann exits HBO show
Spectator
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
No amount of discourse will make a good pop song into a great one
There is no higher calling than making great pop music, and no mechanism by which such an achievement can be faked or fudged. No lofty exposition, no pleading discourse, no mitigating circumstance, no ifs, buts or boo-hoo back story can bend a piece of so-so music into a great pop song. We simply know one when we hear one. Commentators may gush about Beyoncé's genre-strafing cultural significance until the cows come home, but it doesn't alter the plain fact that she hasn't released a single piece of music in more than a decade that will stand the test of time come pop's judgment day. 'Pop' implies freshness. Fizz. This doesn't merely apply to the sound of the music, but the speed of delivery. It should be urgent, immediate, endlessly on tap. Also implied in the word, of course, is a bubble forever on the verge of bursting. The trick for any dedicated pop star, therefore, is to keep blowing. The best of the breed know that the rhythm of pop allows for precious few pit stops. Madonna and Prince both enjoyed unbroken runs of hit singles between the early 1980s and mid-1990s. One Direction released five albums in five years. Ed Sheeran worked obsessively for a decade. These days, only Taylor Swift appears to understand that in order to maintain traction, a pop artist has to keep moving – 2025 is the first year since 2005 that Swift hasn't released a single (though there's still time). She has been top of the pops for more than a decade because she understands that, in this game, if you snooze, you lose. Witness Rihanna and Lady Gaga, who each enjoyed a handful of imperious years before their momentum stalled. Which brings us to Lorde. It is eight years since a precocious New Zealander released Melodrama, a more or less perfect pop record bursting with fabulous tunes, arresting sounds, supersmart words, bags of attitude and oodles of emotional light and fourth album, Virgin, attempts to re-carbonate some of that fizzy magic following the beach-BBQ stoner strums of 2021's Solar Power. Such a task proves easier said than done. Much of Virgin sounds like an artist attempting to reanimate a bonfire of creativity armed only with a couple of soggy twigs. Perhaps that's what happens when you park the Popmobile in the garage for too long. At 11 tracks and 34 minutes, the album is at least appreciably punchy. Having swapped out her past collaborator, Jack Antonoff, for Jim-E Stack, it defaults to a rawer, glitchier electronic sound which often feels oddly underpowered. 'What Was That' plays as a ghostly echo of the coming-up euphoria of much of Melodrama. 'Current Affairs' is not the only track heavy on atmosphere but skimpy on the pay-off. Pop craves release but, here, too many tunes don't stick, and too many choruses fail to arrive. The couple of ballads pass by pleasantly. 'Hammer' manages to be both melodically bland and sonically messy. Nothing is actually bad, or anywhere close. Lorde's voice remains a great and characterful instrument, and she operates at several levels above the standard pop lyricist, rarely more than a few moments away from an arresting line or a sharp turn of phrase. 'Shapeshifter' merges dreamy textures with minimalist rhythm to build up a surging grandeur, but Lorde locates pop's sweet spot only once here, on 'Broken Glass', which will come to be seen as one of her best songs. A thin electronic pulse locks into a genuinely beautiful melody and inventive vocal arrangement, all set to a desperately sad lyric. It should be noted that Virgin is a very personal record, and often an unhappy one. Its themes include shifting gender identity, illness, body dysmorphia, therapy, heartbreak: a very modern menu of dysfunction. Similar themes frame many new releases by contemporary pop artists, and while they provide plentiful fodder for interviews and fuel endless loops of social media comment, in the final reckoning they won't make a good song into a great one. Perhaps pop these days struggles under the weight of all the discourse around it. It is not the artist's fault necessarily that the humble pop song can no longer just be a humble pop song, but the sheer demand for significance risks playing against the immediacy of the form. The solemn subject matter and Lorde's return following a lengthy absence make Virgin an event, undeniably – but they cannot quite transform it into gold-standard pop music.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lorde's racy 'Virgin' vinyl artwork stirs controversy with NSFW image
Lorde is getting intimate in more ways than one on her new album. The Grammy-winning songstress, 28, is stirring up controversy on social media thanks to the artwork from her latest record "Virgin." The 11-track LP, coproduced and cowritten by Lorde (real name: Ella Yelich-O'Connor), marks the alternative pop singer's return to the music scene after 2021's "Solar Power." The vinyl edition of the album features an eight-page photo booklet, according to Lorde's official website. The product description includes the advisory warning, "Adult images." One of the images in question reportedly includes a nude shot of Lorde, with the photo showing the crotch of an individual wearing see-through pants. Lorde's 'Man Of The Year' TikTok trend: Why Gen Z copes with humor A representative for Lorde confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the singer is the individual featured in the photo. USA TODAY has reached out to representatives of Lorde for comment. The album artwork drew scrutiny online for its racy depiction of the singer, dividing fans who were shocked by Lorde's apparent embrace of nudity and others who were unfazed by the skin-baring photo. "Me when I saw Lorde's vinyl cover on my timeline," X user @leasweetener wrote alongside a clip of Anne Hathaway's "Idea of You" character Solène Marchand slamming a laptop shut in horror. "Just saw that Lorde vinyl cover," @sayfoncaffeine wrote, inserting a GIF of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" character Rowley Jefferson looking confused. "Should've stayed curious about the Lorde vinyl😭😭," @deluluboy2 wrote alongside a clip of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" alum NeNe Leakes exclaiming, "What?! That is shocking." Despite the musical controversy, some fans came to Lorde's defense. "The Lorde vinyl was not that bad. Y'all love to overreact," X user @serialexpplain wrote. "That Lorde vinyl cover ain't even that serious (for real), and y'all are dragging it," @lele_westwood wrote. "I really thought the Lorde vinyl insert would be a lot worse than people are saying it is," @lqbyrinths wrote. "You guys are kinda dramatic 😭" Lorde is back with 2025 tour: How to get tickets to Ultrasound tour In a May interview with Rolling Stone, Lorde reflected on the "vulnerable" and "messy" nature of "Virgin" and the impact the album could have on her public image. "There's going to be a lot of people who don't think I'm a good girl anymore, a good woman. It's over," Lorde told the outlet. "It will be over for a lot of people, and then for some people, I will have arrived. I'll be where they always hoped I'd be." This isn't the first time Lorde has featured explicit imagery in her work. The album cover for "Solar Power" showed a bikini-clad Lorde "jumping over a friend on a beach," but the ground-level angle gave an unfiltered view of the singer's buttocks. 10 bingeable memoirs to check out: Celebrities tell all about aging, marriage and Beyoncé During a June 2021 interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," the singer said the image was "a little hardcore, but it was so joyful to me." "It felt innocent and playful and a little bit feral and sexy," Lorde continued. "You've got to do it while you've got it." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lorde's new album artwork for 'Virgin' divides fans with nudity
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lorde receives backlash for referencing Pamela Anderson sex tape on 'Current Affairs'
Lorde anticipated she would ruffle some feathers with her provocative new album, and her musical forecast was spot-on. The New Zealand singer-songwriter, born Ella Yelich-O'Connor, has sparked backlash online for the song "Current Affairs," which is featured on her fourth album "Virgin." The 11-track LP, released June 27, marks the alternative pop singer's return to the music scene after 2021's "Solar Power." The nearly three-and-a-half-minute track is drawing controversy for Lorde's reference to the 1996 sex tape of Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and actress Pamela Anderson: "All alone in my room / Watching the tape of their honeymoon / On the boat, it was pure and true / Then the film came out." The Grammy-winning songstress, 28, opened up about her experience of watching the intimate video in a May interview with Rolling Stone, revealing she watched the tape following a psychedelic therapy session. "I found it to be so beautiful," Lorde told the outlet, though she acknowledged the possible inappropriateness of watching. "I saw two people that were so in love with each other, and there was this purity. They were jumping off this big boat. ... They were like children. They were so free. And I just was like, 'Whoa. Being this free comes with danger.'" Anderson and Lee's sex tape, which was stored inside a safe, was stolen by disgruntled electrician Rand Gauthier from the couple's Malibu home. Anderson previously said she and Lee were offered $5 million for the video from Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, and after the pair declined the offer, the tape was released publicly. USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Anderson, Lee and Lorde for comment. Lorde stirs controversy on 'Virgin': Singer's racy vinyl artwork divides fans with NSFW image Lorde's bold lyric about Anderson and Lee's sex tape scandal earned criticism from fans, who claimed the pop culture reference was in bad taste. "It wasn't enough to mention watching the illegal revenge porn tape in this interview," X user @dreamsandprose wrote, referencing the singer's Rolling Stone profile. "Lorde had to go and add it as the lyrics to current affairs as well." One Reddit user said the lyric "almost ruins the entire album for me," adding: "It's so deeply narcissistic and ignorant for Lorde to try and relate a deeply traumatic event in Pamela's life to her own experience." But some listeners offered a softer stance on the Anderson-Lee shout-out. Another Reddit user argued that the lyric acknowledges the sex tape's unauthorized release was "a violation of their lives and tainted their love." "Sometimes people do wrong things. Instead of dismissing them as you do, we should consider their intentions and critique them within reason," the user continued. "The line does work even if it's a very wrong thing to say, but that's the price of unfiltered expression." Lorde touts 'MDMA therapy': What is it? Anderson opened up about the emotional impact her stolen sex tape had on her life in her 2023 Netflix documentary "Pamela, a Love Story" and memoir "Love, Pamela." While discussing the release of Hulu's limited series "Pam & Tommy," a biopic dramatization of Anderson and Lee's tape scandal, the "Baywatch" alum remained adamant that she did not want to revisit the dark chapter in her life. "I blocked that out of my life," Anderson said in the film. "It was a survival mechanism, and now that it's all coming up again, I feel sick. Basically, you are just a thing owned by the world, like you belong to the world." In a January interview with USA TODAY, Anderson further reflected on the series and shared that she had no interest in addressing the sex tape in a film or TV series portrayal of her own. "I was pretty shocked that people could do something about you without your knowledge or blessing," she said. "The last few decades were very dark for me. I wrote a lot of poetry and did a lot of writing, but I wasn't happy. I was confused and trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing," Anderson continued. "Somehow it all worked out, but that's not something I like to relive. It happened, and I'm stronger for it now, I guess." Lorde's "Current Affairs" lyric isn't the only controversy from her latest album, "Virgin." The sexually provocative artwork for the album's vinyl edition drew scrutiny from fans on social media. One of the images from the artwork reportedly includes a nude shot of Lorde, with the photo showing the crotch of an individual wearing see-through pants. A representative for Lorde confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the singer is the individual featured in the photo. USA TODAY reached out to Lorde's representatives for comment. 10 bingeable memoirs to check out: Celebrities tell all about aging, marriage and Beyoncé In her Rolling Stone interview, Lorde reflected on the "vulnerable" and "messy" nature of "Virgin" and the impact the album could have on her public image. "There's going to be a lot of people who don't think I'm a good girl anymore, a good woman. It's over," Lorde told the outlet. "It will be over for a lot of people, and then for some people, I will have arrived. I'll be where they always hoped I'd be." Contributing: Erin Jensen and Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lorde receives backlash for Pamela Anderson reference on new album
