-
10.0
141935
10.0 |
Dork
Lorde holds the tools to reinvent herself again, and with every excavation she makes, she discovers new ways to grow
Read Review
-
9.0
141836
9.0 |
God Is In The TV
Before he died David Bowie called Lorde the future of music and he was not wrong. See you again before the end of the decade, hopefully?
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
8.0
141741
8.0 |
DIY
A thrilling comeback that puts Lorde’s trajectory to the stars back on track
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
8.0
141734
8.0 |
NME
The New Zealand pop star chips away to reveal her purest self on her fourth album
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
8.0
141769
8.0 |
The FT
The New Zealander sings dramatically about new selves, the body and gender fluidity on her fourth release
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
7.0
141728
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
The album is a hesitant step in the right direction for the singer
Read Review
-
7.0
141724
7.0 |
musicOMH
Her fourth album celebrates the messiness of being human – and is also her most compelling and revealing
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
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
Read Review
-
6.0
141707
6.0 |
The Independent
New Zealand artist channels her signature bluntness into songs about rebirth and reconnection
Read Review
-
6.0
141703
6.0 |
The Arts Desk
There’s an odd lack of ambition that has brought the mood of Virgin down
Read Review
-