In New Single ‘Man Of The Year,’ Lorde Evokes Vulnerability and Exploration
New Zealand pop/alternative phenom Lorde is back with an introspective and multi-layered song ahead of her anticipated full length album Virgin. "Man of the Year" just might be her most raw and exploratory record yet, going deep into her gender metamorphosis and self-acceptance.
Before dropping the second track from her forthcoming album, she teased that it was the song she was most proud of as it served as an “offering from really deep inside me.”
“Man of the Year” stemmed from her experience attending the 2023 GQ Man Of The Year Awards where she didn’t really feel like herself even after donning a typically feminine dress at an awards show celebrating exceptional men.
The music video, which was dropped on the same day as the single, illustrates the singer's feeling of being comfortable with vulnerability as she strips down in an empty room to just a pair of jeans, her chest bound with duct tape. The video culminates in Lorde crashing out in a room full of dirt and sand.
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Lorde bares it all as she sings about her exploration of gender identity expressed through her trademark whisper-tone and soulful vocal delivery that builds into an emotional crescendo of booming synth leads and discordant guitar riffs.
“It’s very pure. A song that is sort of about feeling my gender broaden, shift, and bust out of me in this way that is really amazing to me and scary and emotional. I feel really proud of us for capturing it,” she said at an interview with Australian radio show triple j, as she reflected on the track’s essence.
The New Zealand native is set to release Virgin on June 27 under Universal Music New Zealand with production credits from Jim-E Stack who had worked with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Dominic Fike, Joji, and Caroline Polachek.
“(Releasing the album) is probably not dissimilar to right before a baby comes you know?” the artist said, describing the anticipation around her new album.
“I think a lot has changed within me and I think that I’m way more like in my work. I don’t feel pressured to be something that I’m not.”
What Makes Lorde Rule Over Alternative Pop Music
Twenty-eight-year-old New Zealand-born Ella Yelich-O’Connor has been labeled as the “Queen of Alternative” and rightly so if you dive deep into her freshman and sophomore LPs, considered to be gamechangers in the modern pop landscape.
Last month, the alternative pop artist released the first song off of her upcoming record “What Was That,” her upbeat synth-pop anthem reminiscent of the coming-of-age atmosphere you hear from cuts like “Green Light," and “Supercut,” from Melodrama (2017).
This was the singer’s first major release after her third studio album Solar Power in 2021, which drew mixed reviews compared to her last two acclaimed two full-length LPs.
In the summer of last year, she cleared up her rumored drama with English pop-mega star Charli XCX through the track “Girl, so confusing,” where they both tackle insecurity and how its intertwined with maintaining friendships. The track is on the innovative electro-pop and hyperpop phenomenon album Brat.
Lorde's 2017 sophomore record Melodrama shows her maturity in songwriting as she teamed up with famed producer and musician Jack Antonoff for her distinct anthemic, euphoric, and melancholic musicality that had influenced artists like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo, among others.
It highlighted the alternative pop singer's capacity to go beyond the overnight success of her smash-hit “Royals” in 2013, which was inescapable when it came out.
Her debut album, Pure Heroine, birthed the masterpiece that is “Ribs” that encapsulates the universal conflicting feeling of being scared of getting older, nostalgia, and belongingness. The song showcases Lorde’s mastery of painting a pictureof profound emotional upliftment, while encapsulating melancholy and isolation simultaneously.
“Ribs” and “400 Lux,” another booming and evocative cut from her debut album, are tunes that would make any feel like the protagonist of their own coming-of-age film.
Lorde has shown with these first two tracks from her much-anticipated record that she plans on revealing much more about where she is emotionally in her life, which is sure to make for another classic album to dance and cry to.
