{"id":7412,"date":"2025-10-28T18:04:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T00:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/?p=7412"},"modified":"2025-10-28T18:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T00:04:47","slug":"lordes-virgin-shapeshifter-mostly-and-current-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/2025\/10\/28\/lordes-virgin-shapeshifter-mostly-and-current-affairs\/","title":{"rendered":"Lorde’s Virgin: Shapeshifter (mostly) and Current Affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Released on June 27, 2025, Lorde\u2019s fourth studio album didn\u2019t hit my ears until the very beginning of September, while on an overnight bus from Florence to Prague. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the 1960s, Michel Foucault, the French philosopher and sociologist, established a new definition of discourse. Rather than a pure and objective vehicle of communication, Foucault theorized that the words we use in writing and in speech are both the products and proponents of cultural, political, and social power. Thus, the Foucaultian concept of discourse was born. Through the very use (and disuse) of certain words and topics, power dynamics and social norms and much more take shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sex plays at the border of use and disuse and is consequently an instinctive victim of our discourse. What is sexual is secret, therefore what is secret is sexual. \u2018Virgin\u2019 is a fascinating cloud of meaning within this dynamic. What thoughts, ideas, and perceptions does the word \u2018virgin\u2019 provoke in your mind? We\u2019re not talking about \u2018virginity\u2019 (the concept) nor are we talking about \u2018a virgin\u2019 or even \u2018the virgin.\u2019 With \u2018virginity,\u2019 we draw our attention away from the philosophical and theoretical, and with the latter two renditions, we abandon a certain level of singularity and individuality. Here is where we get a sense of a dualism within the word. To be honest, I\u2019m still hazy about it, and I think that is what makes this particular title so intriguing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, \u2018virgin\u2019 denotes an individual who has not had sexual intercourse, it can also be used to describe a person who is inexperienced in a particular activity. \u2018Virgin\u2019 is evidently defined in negative terms. By defining something by the thing that it is not<\/em>, you bring attention to the very thing that it is not. \u2018Virgin\u2019 denotes sexlessness, but obviously, when we hear\/read\/speak the word, the opposite must <\/em>come to mind. \u2018Virgin\u2019 is a strange little mirror that we think is clear glass. \u2018Virgin\u2019 is two when we think it is one. If there is one concept that I believe runs through the veins of this album, it is this confusing and contradictory balance between oneness and multiplicity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A woman is one and many things at the same time. A woman is a daughter, a girl, a sister, and a lover.  She is virgin, which means she is untouched. She is a virgin, which means she is waiting to be touched. She is something to be protected, then something to be violated. She comes from someone then someone comes from her. In a nigh impossible feat, Lorde chaotically drags it all together, dirt jammed beneath her nails, and tells it like it is. \u201cShapeshifter\u201d is a culmination of this feat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you get close enough<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll let down my braids and you\u2019ll climb up<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

in my room, we can do anything you want.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman knows she\u2019s alluring, what her invitation means. She\u2019s a beautiful Rapunzel, a songbird hanging in the air. A tenuous balance appears: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I\u2019m fine without it, why can\u2019t I stop?  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unsettling. Do you know what you desire? Why do you desire what you desire? And if you don\u2019t desire something, why do you keep going after it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been the ice, I\u2019ve been the flame<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been the prize, the ball, the chain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been the siren, been the saint<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a lack of ability or power. Remember, she\u2019s alluring, and so is her invitation. We finally know why\u2014she can shapeshift into anything, she can become the innocent teenage girl, she can become everything you <\/em>want, anything that makes you climb up into her tower. But is it power if it serves to turn you into something that others want, rather than something that you want to be? Without desire, there is no direction. \u2018I have no idea what I want, I have no idea where I\u2019m going.\u2019 The line \u201cI\u2019m not affected\u201d repeats over and over, like a numbing. In the last full stanza, Lorde writes twice \u201cI\u2019ll kick you out and pull you in.\u201d It’s an endless, stagnant cycle.\u00a0No net movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One last piece:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But tonight I just wanna fall<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a big \u2018but,\u2019 bigger than you think it is (haha). Here, finally, is our direction. It\u2019s not a direction that has happened yet, but it\u2019s a start. Because she wants <\/em>it. As aforementioned, the song depicts a stagnant cycle. Same air in, same air out. Action sparks no reaction because the action has no direction, no desire, and no substance. There\u2019s only one solution here. Jump out of the tower and fall fall fall. What a line! Sometimes, there\u2019s no other force than gravity that holds you down and makes you real. Certain circumstances make any other path impossible. So instead, the only thing you can do is let yourself fall and hope that, at some point, another force will stop you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While \u201cShapeshifter\u201d introduces us to the agonizing experience of being desired, \u201cCurrent Affairs\u201d gives us a raw perspective on the act of desiring and how our desire might consume us. I have more questions than answers for this song. The classic metaphor of \u2018love\u2019 as an all consuming, blinding fire. Is this really love? Can something be \u2018love\u2019 if it destroys someone so brutally? I can’t be completely sure of what Lorde is saying, but there’s something that’s exploding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re in the light, then you’re in the dark<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then someone throws a flare<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a heaving of feeling: you’re in the light, then plunged into darkness, then a single bright red flame crosses your shocked face, illuminating the darkness and turning the air spontaneously electric. Then: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My bed is on fire<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama I’m so scared <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were you ever like this? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you went out on the edge?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire evidently isn’t light, it’s something that’s alive. Is that what Lorde thinks of love and desire? Not mere illumination but actual consumption? Not just the viewing but the taking? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balance isn’t there, or is it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lines “Mama I’m so scared\/Were you ever like this?” <\/em>cling to my mind. A daughter becomes someone then a daughter comes from her. A daughter fucks and engages in her own birth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Released on June 27, 2025, Lorde\u2019s fourth studio album didn\u2019t hit my ears until the very beginning of September, while on an overnight bus from Florence to Prague. In the 1960s, Michel Foucault, the French philosopher and sociologist, established a new definition of discourse. Rather than a pure and objective vehicle of communication, Foucault theorized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1774,"featured_media":7437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[155,157],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-7412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-artist-spotlight","tag-music-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/files\/2025\/10\/lorde.virgin.jpg?fit=474%2C474&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa7fJU-1Vy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1774"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7412"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7436,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7412\/revisions\/7436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}