Lorde's 'Virgin': Release Date, Track List, Features, & More

When Lorde made her surprise appearance during Charli XCX’s Coachella set earlier this month, Charli officially passed last year’s “Brat summer” torch to her. Now, that prediction is becoming a reality.

After weeks of teasing, Lorde announced her fourth studio album on April 30. Titled Virgin, the new record will be Lorde’s first release in nearly four years, since 2021’s Solar Power. Its lead single, “What Was That,” was released a week prior, providing an electric first taste of the enigmatic singer’s artistic direction with Virgin. Notably, the first song seemed to signal a return to her Melodrama era, with mentions of MDMA in the chorus (a drug she closely associates with her 2017 album) and motifs of “painted faces” and “blue light” that evoked that album’s moody cover art.

Virgin’s cover also falls into Melodrama’s midnight-blue color scheme, though it goes much further than just skin-deep, showing an ultrasound of a pelvis with zipper closed in the foreground.

Here are all the specifics about Virgin that we know so far.

The Release Date Will Kick Off Summer

Virgin is scheduled to drop June 27, just a few days after summer officially begins.

Lorde’s Merch May Tease The Track List

Along with the album announcement, Lorde also updated her merch store with several new items. One design seems to reveal some of the new song lyrics on the record, while another is even more cryptic, listing off five specific descriptors: Mystic, Antipodean, Spiritual technologist, Medicine woman, and Man of the year.

It’s possible these could be song titles, but they could also be ways in which Lorde is describing herself on this new album (“Antipodeon” is a term for anyone from Australia or New Zealand).

It seems there are still some mysteries left to be solved about exactly what Lorde fans can expect from Virgin before it reveals itself on June 27.