Only Lorde could create an album that encapsulates a lifetime’s worth of emotions in just 34 minutes.

Ella Yelich-O’Connor, who takes the persona of Lorde, is no stranger to expressing herself through cathartic lyricism, having shared her music with the world since the tender age of 16. Known for releasing an album every four years, the New Zealand pop star had fans anticipating 2025 as the start of a new chapter and hopefully a new addition to her discography. This precise pattern officially continued when Lorde announced her fourth studio album “Virgin” on April 30.

The 11-track project was released on Friday, June 27 and earns the title as her most honest piece of work yet. Lorde has always brought new sounds in her approach to pop music, but the dark, electronic beats from Jim-E Stack and straightforward lyricism in “Virgin” is so blunt it makes each track feel as if she is speaking directly to you. Unlike Lorde’s 2021 release, “Solar Power,” “Virgin” is as beautiful, brutal and as the x-ray album cover that reveals her pelvis and IUD.

The build up to Lorde’s return consisted of making amends with Charli XCX on the “Girl, so confusing” remix, a chaotic meetup in Washington Square Park and three singles that offered a promising lead up to the album: “What Was That,” “Man Of The Year” and “Hammer.” Though released as a single, “Hammer” appears as the first track on the song, making it a familiar intro with its raw, feminine energy.

Lorde opens up about her ever evolving identity and place in this world when she sings “some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man” on “Hammer.” This intro track previews themes of gender identity, sexuality, heartbreak, fertility and womanhood that will resurface throughout the album. When the artist sings “I’m ready to feel like I don’t have the answers,” she explains the feeling of entering a period of rebirth, where she can finally accept the uncertainty that is to come later in life.

The hit single “What Was That” is an emotional spiral reflecting on intense moments throughout a previous relationship, questioning the meaning of the connection and the person you once were. This yearning and nostalgia that this relationship brings is also heard on “David,” the closing track, and hints at the fact that this lover could not handle the artist’s emotional depth, which led to the breakup.

The next track, “Shapeshifter,” is perfectly placed after “What Was That” since it conveys the effect of failed relationships. “Shapeshifter” takes a deep dive into the singer’s sexuality, describing the gender roles she has played in preceding relationships, which is also heard on “Current Affairs.”

Lorde also acknowledges her fear of getting too intimate with a partner because of how the aftermath will affect her. “Man Of The Year” is another single that asks rhetorical questions about who will reciprocate the amount of love that she shows her partners. Lorde told Rolling Stone that this track was the song she is proudest of off the album, describing it as “an offering from really deep inside me.”

Listeners are thrown into the midst of the pressures and expectations forced upon Lorde that follows her from girlhood into womanhood. “Favourite Daughter” discusses the complicated relationship with her mother and the generational trauma that follows it. This trauma is also heard in “Clearblue,” which places listeners into the mind of a woman taking a pregnancy test. “There’s broken blood in me, it passed through my mother from her mother down to me,” she sings, referring to the inherited trauma.

These heavy topics quickly feel like easy discussion once listeners reach “Broken Glass,” a personal song about body image and an eating disorder. “I spent my summer getting lost in math,” Lorde sings as she refers to spending her summers counting calories and staring in the mirror.

Lorde has admitted her struggle to accept her style of music in many interviews, but “Virgin” is proof that she has come to terms with the music style she is meant to create. Rather than having a relaxed, carefree attitude heard in “Solar Power,” Lorde is here to make people feel, think and question life every time she comes out of her hiatus.

The intense visuals and industrial synths create a refreshing twist on pop music. The mature sound is similar to her 2017 release “Melodrama,” and perfectly matches the intense themes discussed throughout the project. Anyone who had expected a commercial performance from Lorde should have expected a let down, since the artist has never stuck to the traditional pop sound.

“Virgin” takes listeners through a rejuvenating journey of self discovery that many 20-somethings can relate to. Though she has accepted the difficulties life has thrown at her, making her who she is today, she also accepts that this is not the permanent version of herself. The entire record sounds like Lorde has come to terms with not only her style of music, but also who she is as a person, leaving fans soul-searching for their own rebirth, which could only mean one thing – the Lorde has risen.