Lorde has revealed she struggles to listen to one of the most personal tracks from her upcoming album Virgin, explaining that the emotional weight of the song “Clearblue” is simply too overwhelming.
During a recent appearance on the Therapuss podcast with Jake Shane, the New Zealand pop superstar opened up about the deeply personal cut, which explores the intense emotions surrounding taking a pregnancy test.
“There’s a song that I love so much called ‘Clearblue’ that is about unprotected sex,” Lorde explained. “And just the experience of taking a pregnancy test, and like, this flood of emotions that goes through your body… That whole song just destroys me. I can’t even really listen to it.”
The revelation offers fans a glimpse into what appears to be Lorde’s most visceral and intimate album to date. Virgin, scheduled for release on June 27th, features cover art that displays an X-ray of the singer’s pelvis showing the exact placement of her IUD.
In her recent Rolling Stone cover story, Lorde shared insights into the personal journey that influenced the album’s creation, discussing how stopping her birth control affected her sense of identity.
“I felt like stopping taking my birth control, I had cut some sort of cord between myself and this regulated femininity,” she said. “It sounds crazy, but I felt that all of a sudden, I was off the map of femininity. And I totally believed that that allowed things to open up.”
The “Royals” hitmaker also spoke about reconnecting with her body during the creative process, explaining: “[I’ve] been in the same body [my] whole life. I understood it. I was like, ‘These arms climbed the jungle gym. And they held an award on a TV show.’ I understood the whole spectrum of it and began to enjoy the complexity and ruggedness.”
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She added that this process of self-discovery had a profound impact on her sense of gender identity, stating, “My gender got way more expansive when I gave my body more room.”
Lorde has already given fans a taste of what to expect from Virgin with the release of two singles: “Man of the Year” (listen above) and “What Was That”. The album follows her 2021 release Solar Power and marks her fourth studio album.
