lorde virgin music review album.

Fans of the New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde have long commended the artist for her visceral pop craft. To them, her music sounds like freedom. On her new album, “Virgin,” it is as if Lorde is able to hear that freedom, too, writes The Associated Press music writer Maria Sherman in her review. “Virgin” is Lorde’s first studio album in four years. She’s now writing pop hits devoid of any anxious filtering. Musically, “Virgin” threads the needle from her 2017 synth-pop album “Melodrama” to the current moment. And thematically, Lorde’s never been more fluid and feral than on “Virgin,” in her descriptions of gender experience and sexual autonomy.