Lorde has opened up about her gender identity in a wide-ranging new interview with Rolling Stone US, sharing insights into her self-perception ahead of the release of her upcoming album, Virgin.
In an in-depth conversation with journalist Brittany Spanos, the New Zealand-born star addressed lyrics from the album’s opening track, “Some days I’m a woman / Some days I’m a man”, offering a candid explanation of her gender experience.
When asked directly how she identifies, Lorde recalled a conversation with friend and fellow artist Chappell Roan, who had asked if she was nonbinary.
“I ask her how she identifies now, what it means and what’s changed,” Spanos writes. “'[Chappell Roan] asked me this,’ Lorde recalls. The pair have become close friends over the past year. ‘She was like, “So, are you nonbinary now?” And I was like, “I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.” I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.’”
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The article goes on to explore how Lorde further articulates her sense of identity.
“Though Lorde still calls herself a cis woman and her pronouns remain unchanged, she describes herself as ‘in the middle gender-wise,’ a person more comfortable with the fluidity of her expression,” the story reads. “In some ways, she feels like her teenage self again, back when her friends were mostly boys and there was a looseness in how she dressed and acted.”
A 2023 shopping trip also proved pivotal. While trying on a pair of men’s jeans at NYC store C’H’C’M’, she sent a photo to longtime collaborator Jim-E Stack.
“In 2023, she went shopping at clothing store C’H’C’M’ and tried on a pair of men’s jeans,” Spanos writes. “She sent a picture to Stack to get his opinion. ‘He was like, “I want to see the you that’s in this picture represented in the music.” This was before I had any sense of my gender broadening at all.’”
Virgin is due out June 27th, marking Lorde’s first album since 2021’s Solar Power. A world tour will follow, though no Australian or New Zealand dates have been announced yet.
