Lorde explores gender identity in lyrics of new single ‘Hammer’
Lorde’s new song ‘Hammer’ is out now. (Getty)
Lorde's new song 'Hammer' is out now. (Getty)
Lorde is mulling over her gender identity on “Hammer”, the third and final single from her forthcoming fourth studio album, Virgin.
The 28-year-old New Zealand-born singer announced the song earlier this week, describing the murky, synth-driven track as an “ode to city life and horniness”.
“Hammer”, the opening track on Virgin, begins with hazy, jittering synths, before Lorde opens the track by cooing about her sexual desires, wondering whether she’s feeling particularly lustful due to her menstrual cycle.
“There’s a heat in the pavement, my mercury’s raising. Don’t know if it’s love or if it’s ovulation. When you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” she sings.
On the pre-chorus, she invites a potential lover to open their heart to the idea of getting together: “Now I know you don’t deal much in love and affection, but I really do think there could be a connection.”
Before “Hammer” erupts into a pounding, euphoric chorus, Lorde – born Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor – reflects on her recent experience of her gender identity “broadening”.
“Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man,” she sings.
In a post on her website, Lorde noted some of the things “Hammer” was inspired by, including “flirting with the guy at MNZ” and “crisp Spring sun”. She described the song as “the sound of [her] rebirth”.
The music video was filmed at Hampstead Heath in London, where Lorde would frequent while she lived in the city in 2023.
In recent months, Lorde has opened up about feeling “in the middle gender wise”, telling Rolling Stone: “I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.”
She told the publication that her friend, fellow music superstar Chappell Roan, asked whether she is non-binary, but she said that she is “really resistant to boxing it up”.
Lorde later said that she still uses she/her pronouns.
Her previous single “Man of the Year” included lyrics about her realisation that she often feels masculine.
“My babe can’t believe I’ve become someone else, someone more like myself,” she hums on verse one.
“I didn’t think he’d appear. Let’s hear it for the man of the year.”
In the powerful music video, Lorde binds her chest and writhes about in a room full of dirt.
Lorde’s fourth album Virgin is released on 27 June.
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