Lorde has opened up about her gender identity. Credit: Marc Piasecki / Getty
Lorde spoke openly in a candid interview.
She confirmed her gender identity and shared her preferred pronouns.
Lorde, 28, will release her fourth album, Virgin, on June 27.
She uses her music to explore her changing gender identity.
In Rolling Stone, she shared the album’s opening line:
“Some days I’m a woman/Some days I’m a man.”
When asked if she is nonbinary, she said,
“I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.”
She resists labeling herself strictly.
Lorde identifies as cisgender and uses she/her pronouns.
Still, she feels “in the middle gender-wise.”
She called the creative process “the ooze,”
a freeing break from convention.
Her gender felt more expansive as she gave her body more space.
Lorde’s journey began in 2023 with a small moment: trying on men’s jeans.
She sent a photo to her producer, Jim-E Stack, who said,
“I want to see the you in this picture represented in the music.”
At that time, she hadn’t realized her gender was expanding.
Lorde linked this awakening to stopping birth control, which she used since age 15.
She said it felt like cutting a cord from “regulated femininity.”
Suddenly, she felt “off the map of femininity,” and that opened new possibilities.
This theme shaped her music too.
While writing ‘Man of the Year,’ she pictured herself in men’s jeans, a gold chain, and duct tape on her chest.
Recreating that look shocked her.
She said, “I didn’t understand it, but I felt something bursting out of me.
It was jagged and violent.”
Amber, who welcomed Oonagh via surrogate, reflected on her decision in an Instagram post:
“I decided I wanted to have a child. I wanted to do it on my own terms,” she shared.
“I now appreciate how radical it is for us as women to rethink one of the most fundamental parts of our lives.
I hope we reach a point where it’s normalized not to need a ring to have a crib.”
She added, “A part of me wants to keep my private life private, but I understand my job requires me to take control of this.”
She said this look influenced her outfit at the 2025 Met Gala, calling it an “Easter egg” for the new album.
Despite her personal journey, Lorde stressed her experience isn’t activism or appropriation.
She said, “I don’t think my identity is radical.
I see brave young people facing complex struggles.
Expressing myself privately is one thing, but I’m not trying to take space from those with more at stake.
I’m in a safe place as a wealthy, cis, white woman.”
Virgin is Lorde’s first album since 2021’s Solar Power.
She keeps a four-year gap between projects.
Her debut, Pure Heroine, came out in 2013, followed by Melodrama in 2017.
