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9.0
141704
9.0 |
Rolling Stone
The pop star turns inward and redefines who she wants to be on her most introspective record yet
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9.0
141705
9.0 |
Clash
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
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9.0
141712
9.0 |
All Music
Vocally, Lorde has never sounded more intimate and mutative, whispering overshared details of her daily life, before soaring into the sun with a diva's golden resonance. On Virgin, she is transcendentally witchy, harmonizing with herself both literally and spiritually, a pop star in the throes of creative rebirth
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9.0
141816
9.0 |
PopMatters
Maturity requires sacrifice, which, throughout her fourth album, Lorde discovers by separating herself from the person the world sees and often expects
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8.5
141735
8.5 |
Paste Magazine
On the uncomfortable paths of the 28-year-old’s fourth album, slam-dunk bangers are substituted with reinvention and restraint surrendered through hushed, reflective, and carnal synth-pop vestiges
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8.2
141736
8.2 |
Northern Transmissions
Lorde trades in her secrecy and mystique for a tremendously healing, desperately relatable record that cements her mark as her generation’s defining artist
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8.0
141741
8.0 |
DIY
A thrilling comeback that puts Lorde’s trajectory to the stars back on track
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8.0
141730
8.0 |
The Skinny
Lorde may not break entirely new ground on fourth album Virgin, but its warmth and texture make it consistently compelling and quietly brilliant
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8.0
141733
8.0 |
Exclaim
For Lorde, it's an opportunity to reclaim something she thought she had lost long ago, but has always been within her: her true self
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8.0
141734
8.0 |
NME
The New Zealand pop star chips away to reveal her purest self on her fourth album
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8.0
141698
8.0 |
The Guardian
After her last album embraced switching off, the musician returns to pop’s fray to revel in the mess of late-20s angst with a strikingly unsettled sound
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8.0
141711
8.0 |
The Irish Times
Ella Yelich-O’Connor’s fourth album is a brooding blockbuster as visceral and emotionally gory as Solar Power was darkly becalmed
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8.0
141769
8.0 |
The FT
The New Zealander sings dramatically about new selves, the body and gender fluidity on her fourth release
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7.6
141725
7.6 |
Pitchfork
Lorde’s fourth album returns to the digital, physical sound of Melodrama. While rooted somewhat in her past, it’s a gritty, tender, and often transcendent ode to freedom and transformation
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7.5
141822
7.5 |
Spectrum Culture
The voice that scored the coming-of-age of a generation of girls in the 2010s sounds most at home in the city that celebrates expression and self-discovery as much for the confusing journey as for the destination—New York is exactly where Lorde needs to be
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7.0
141727
7.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Virgin is Lorde at her best yet as an affective poet and, frustratingly, at her most tamed as a digital sound designer
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7.0
141728
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
The album is a hesitant step in the right direction for the singer
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7.0
141724
7.0 |
musicOMH
Her fourth album celebrates the messiness of being human – and is also her most compelling and revealing
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6.9
141743
6.9 |
Beats Per Minute
Because for all the grand ideas here, it feels like Lorde has more to say about them, and as the aesthetic and songcraft of Virgin illustrates — almost despite all of this — she is more than skilled enough to do so
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6.7
141706
6.7 |
Consequence Of Sound
It’s a treat to hear Lorde attack some of these ideas with maturity and nuance, and many of the songs bring restrained-but-engaging sonics to match. But the final product, unfortunately, leaves the listener a bit wanting
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6.0
141707
6.0 |
The Independent
New Zealand artist channels her signature bluntness into songs about rebirth and reconnection
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6.0
141703
6.0 |
The Arts Desk
There’s an odd lack of ambition that has brought the mood of Virgin down
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