Body dysmorphia, the pains of gender conformity, the existential anguish of hitting your late twenties; for an album of palpable bangers, Lorde’s Virgin is exploring a dark colour palette of extreme emotions. In one of her most openhearted records yet, she’s once again making waves in the charts for music that’s both universally accessible and surgically specific. 

But what do some of the biggest reviewers think of Virgin? We’ve collated the ponderings of the cultural hivemind below. 

Pitchfork 

7.6/10 

‘It’s long been her writing that telegraphs Lorde’s capital-A artistry. Where someone like Charli XCX is keen to move culture, and Addison Rae is keen to put on a good show, Lorde is happy to sweat it out in the Notes app. The music’s job, it seems here, is mostly to not get in her way. “Shapeshifter” is a high mark, a lovely bit of text painting that starts with a skeletal garage beat, shaded in gradually until it hits you with a full bleed of color. This song moves; it mirrors the state of constant flux that Lorde is singing about. Virgin could stand to have more of that synergy—production touches that are as freaky and unpredictable as the person at their center. Instead, there’s the glitchy vocal fragments and oddball samples that we’ve heard before. There’s so much negative space, it feels almost like a tease, because it implies everything that could fill it.’ 

(Words: Olivia Horn) 
Read Pitchfork’s full review.

The Guardian 

4/5

‘Lorde seems less like an artist cravenly rehashing former glories than one who began her career speaking directly to her fellow teens about stuff that mattered to them – and paving the way for Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo et al in the process – continuing to grow up alongside her fans. That’s always a tough job, but one Lorde seems more than capable of thanks to writing that remains as skilful and incisive as it did when she was precociously skewering pop’s obsession with unattainable lifestyles from an Auckland suburb in 2013. Powerful, moving, personal but universal – and packed with bangers – Virgin is the proof.’ 

(Words: Alexis Petridis) 
Read The Guardian’s full review.

NME

4/5

‘Virgin is a vibrant combination of Lorde’s best qualities, and then some. With her newfound candour, the record combines the emotional whirlwind of Melodrama, the chilling minimalism of Pure Heroine and the breezy freedom of Solar Power. This might be called Virgin, but Lorde proves she’s not afraid to strip herself bare.’ 

(Words: Alex Rigotti) 
Read NME’s full review.

The Line Of Best Fit 

7/10 

‘Lorde’s non-lexical vocables – a prominent and meaningful aspect of Melodrama – hold less impact here as their alarming predictability, both in execution and placement, gives a sense of necessity to fill in the void of musical restraint more than that of specialty that drives the record’s concept. Jim E-Stack and Dan Nigro’s contribution notwithstanding, the production quirks suffer from the same issue. Basslines tend to whimper in unattractive simplicity, and pitched piano arrangements feel too “correct” to exhilarate. She could want her free verse as Virgin’s only star, but some will believe that certain tracks are incomplete. What if the snares on “Broken Glass” were more seething? What if the final seconds of “Hammer” were longer? Virgin is Lorde at her best yet as an affective poet and, frustratingly, at her most tamed as a digital sound designer.’ 

(Words: Tanatat Khuttapan) 
Read The Line Of Best Fit’s review.

Clash 

9/10 

‘It’s rare that an artist peaks twice in their career, but Virgin accelerates to equal climaxes which it was widely, and wrongly, assumed only fan favourite album Melodrama could reach. Between it’s successful sonic reinvention, which sees Lorde return to her signature synth-pop sound with songwriting untangling a multiplicity of traumas, Virgin cements itself as existing beyond being the ultimate reclamation record, but the soundtrack of Lorde’s rebirth.’ 

(Words: Lauren Hague)  
Read Clash’s review.

Rolling Stone 

4.5/5

‘By the end of Virgin, Lorde is confident that she is embodying a newfound strength. She lifts her exes’ body weight at the gym on the convulsive “If She Could See Me Now,” and delivers sharp incisive lines directly to said ex on the cinematic closing track, “David.” After all the excavation and ecstasy, Lorde becomes unleashed and fully free — one step closer to the person she wants to be.’ 

(Words: Maya Georgi) 
Read Rolling Stone’s review.

Stereogum 

N/A 

‘Virgin refuses to step back from the edge. Instead, Lorde sings about being on the edge as if it’s the pinnacle of being alive. These tracks display an understanding that the distances between things — man and woman, a grown-up and an ageless self, mystique and magic, real-life intimacy and sex tapes — don’t necessarily help us understand or relate to them any better. It’s in the space between these definitions that we can find ourselves.’ 

(Words: Margaret Farrell) 
Read Stereogum’s review.

Vulture 

N/A

‘Virgin is most forward-thinking in its philosophical perspective; the music is a bristling, enthusiastic tour of the expected. Nevertheless, the booming Melodrama-core of “GRWM” and “If She Could See Me Now” hits like a homecoming. In the album opener, Lorde admits to not having all the answers to questions plaguing her, but we’re just as unsure of what we want. We chafe when she strays too far from the hit formula and when she adheres too closely to it. The savvy celebrity on the business end of the jockeying just spoon-feeds you their evolution.'

(Words: Craig Jenkins) 
Read Vulture’s review.

Virgin is out now on Universal Music.