Lorde has served up a number of surprises recently, with a new album coming before a secret Glasto set – but this latest might be the biggest.
The New Zealand popstar, 28, rose to fame while still a teenager with her breakout chart-topping single Royals and her debut album Pure Heroine.
Adding to her roster with UK top 10 follow-up albums Melodrama and Solar Power, the Green Light singer – whose real name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor – dropped fourth album Virgin last Friday.
She then took to the stage at Glastonbury 2025 the morning after, shocking fans with a secret 11.30am set that still drew thousands to the Woodsies Stage.
But it seems the surprises didn’t end there, with Lorde’s new album Virgin receiving an updated vinyl cover that sees the New Zealand singer-songwriter bear all to fans.
The original and main album cover is a laser blue x-ray image of what appears to be Lorde’s pelvic area, with her pelvis and upper thigh bone visible on the cover.
Now, the updated image brings the x-ray image to physical life, with a close-up photo of the Hammer hitmaker’s crotch, only obscured by a pair of clear plastic trousers.
Yep – it’s all there, all visible. And many of Lorde’s fans have reacted with shock, surprise, delight, and terror in equal measure after receiving the LP in the mail.
@TSMidnights tweeted, ‘Lorde vinyl [cover], what on Earth?’ while @Deluluboy2 said they should have ‘stayed curious’ about the cover instead of seeking it out.
@LeaSweetener said, ‘Me when I saw Lorde’s [NSFW] vinyl cover on my timeline,’ and shared a short video of somebody slamming a laptop closed.
However, @LanaDelSaly212 defended the cover: ‘Absolutely adore the art direction and aesthetic of the Lorde Virgin album / vinyl cover.’
Others compared it to the recent album cover announced by Sabrina Carpenter for her next release, Man’s Best Friend, which attracted considerable controversy upon its unveiling.
The cover depicted Sabrina in a tight black dress, sitting on her knees while having her hair pulled by a faceless man standing just out of the frame.
After one fan asked if the Please Please Please singer ‘had a personality outside of sex’, Sabrina sassed back by confirming: ‘Girl yes, and it’s so good.’
And writing for Metro, Brooke Johnson called the album cover ‘brave, not sleazy’ and praised the Taste singer for delivering a ‘knowing wink at how femininity is constructed, consumed, and commodified’.
Sabrina herself launched into a defence of the cover after some pop music fans blasted it as ‘disturbing’ and criticised her for glorifying and perpetuating stereotypes of abusive relationships.
In a chat with Rolling Stone, she responded: ‘I’m living in the glory of no one hearing it or knowing about it, and so I can not care. I can not give a f**k about it, because I’m just so excited.’
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