The album’s opening track features the lyric, “Some days I’m a woman / Some days I’m a man.” When asked about this line and her current identity, Lorde shared a candid moment with fellow artist Chappell Roan. “She was like, ‘So, are you nonbinary now?’ And I was like, ‘I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.’ I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up,” she said.
While Lorde continues to identify as a cisgender woman and uses she/her pronouns, she described herself as feeling “in the middle gender-wise.” She emphasized her comfort with fluidity, noting that she often feels connected to her teenage self—especially in the way she dressed and moved through the world when most of her friends were boys.
A turning point came in 2023 when Lorde tried on a pair of men’s jeans at clothing store C’H’C’M’ and sent a photo to Virgin producer Jim-E Stack. “He was like, ‘I want to see the you that’s in this picture represented in the music.’” She credits that moment as a creative spark that influenced the project’s direction.
With Virgin set to release June 27, followed by a global tour, Lorde’s exploration of gender identity is poised to shape both her personal narrative and the next phase of her musical journey.