Lorde has dropped “Hammer”, the final single before Virgin arrives in full on June 27th.
Announcing the song on social media, Lorde wrote, “Hammer. Last song before Virgin. First song on the album. An ode to city life and horniness tbh.”
She’s also shared a teaser for the video, sporting braided pigtails and balancing a pigeon on each shoulder. A snippet of the lyrics surfaced too: “There’s a heat in the pavement / My mercury’s raising.” Directed by Renell Medrano, the clip was shot on location at London’s Hampstead Heath, she revealed in a post.
“Hammer” features on the much-anticipated Virgin, the follow-up to 2021’s Solar Power.
This week, the Aotearoa pop star has announced a string of listening parties set for June 25th and 26th, with six events planned across Australia and New Zealand.
The rollout has been steady and inventive. Last month’s “Man of the Year” arrived with a striking new video, following April’s “What Was That”, which Lorde memorably previewed in New York’s Washington Square Park. After a surprise text blast to fans, so many turned up that police were called in to shut it down. (She returned a few hours later to perform the track anyway.)
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At home in New Zealand, Lorde’s been dialling things up. She hit the Aotearoa Music Awards, where she took out Single of the Year for her zeitgeist-grabbing Charli XCX collab, “Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde.”
She also surprised fans with a surprise pop-up performance in a bathroom at Auckland’s YMCA.
Lorde spoke at length about Virgin in her Rolling Stone cover story, marking her first in-depth look at the record.
Lorde’s “Hammer” is out now.
