Lorde Fans Go Wild Over the ‘Symbolism’ of Her ‘Weird’ & ‘Intriguing’ Cover Art for New Album ‘Virgin’
Written by djfrosty on April 30, 2025
On Wednesday morning (April 30), Lorde fans opened their phones to a one-word text from the star: “Virgin.”
The term would turn out to be the title of the New Zealand native’s long-awaited fourth studio album — arriving June 27 after a four-year drought following 2021’s Solar Power — as revealed through the text blast sent out to fans, which featured a link to her website directing them to the official announcement. And though it’ll be another month until the project finally comes out, Lorde has already given her disciples much to discuss with the project’s cover art, which features a blue-toned X-ray of a woman’s crotch, and a description she shared of the record in a statement.
“THE COLOUR OF THE ALBUM IS CLEAR,” she wrote. “LIKE BATHWATER, WINDOWS, ICE, SPIT. FULL TRANSPARENCY. THE LANGUAGE IS PLAIN AND UNSENTIMENTAL. THE SOUNDS ARE THE SAME WHEREVER POSSIBLE. I WAS TRYING TO SEE MYSELF, ALL THE WAY THROUGH. I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A DOCUMENT THAT REFLECTED MY FEMININITY: RAW, PRIMAL, INNOCENT, ELEGANT, OPENHEARTED, SPIRITUAL, MASC.”
On her site, the “Royals” artist added that the album was “100% WRITTEN IN BLOOD.”
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With all of that to mull over — as well as April 24-released lead single “What Was That” still ringing in their ears — fans have been flooding social media to share their reactions to the news. “ohhhh this is gonna break me,” another fan commented on Lorde’s Instagram post announcing the album.
“We are so f—ing back,” one person wrote on X, adding that they think the cover art is “weird but simple & intriguing.”
The cover has quickly become perhaps the most talked-about facet of Lorde’s announcement, with the image opening itself up to much interpretation. Embedded between the pelvic bones visible on the X-ray is an IUD, with a zipper and belt buckle seemingly also showing up on the scan.
“Lorde’s new album being a transparent view of her femininity and the title being a societal construct tied to womanhood and the album cover being an Xray of a woman’s reproductive organs while she’s clothed,” one fan wrote on X. “oh the symbolism.”
“I can’t stop looking at this cover,” another fan replied. “It just seems so symbolic to me of the unintended loss of innocence, the way women need to be prepared for if and when that happens to them, and the sadness surrounding everything about it.”
Co-produced by Lorde and Jim-E Stack with help from Fabiana Palladino, Andrew Aged, Buddy Ross, Dan Nigro and Dev Hynes of Blood Orange, Virgin clearly already has followers hyped up for the imminent Lorde summer. Even before the album announcement, New York authorities had to cancel the singer’s pop-up in Washington Square Park on April 22 after the grounds became overrun by fans — who took to singing in the streets after being kicked out — with Lorde later showing up hours later than scheduled to perform “What Was That” for whoever had stuck around. Footage from the event was featured in the track’s music video days later.
See Lorde’s Virgin announcement below.