Lorde explains how Charli XCX collaboration helped shape new album ‘Virgin’: “Really gave me a kick”
Lorde has explained how collaborating with Charli XCX on the ‘Girl, So Confusing’ remix helped inspire her new album, Virgin.
Last summer, Charli XCX topped the charts with Brat, which included ‘Girl, So Confusing’, a song about Charli being unsure about whether another fellow artist liked her, which was later confirmed to be about Lorde. The two artists then united on a remix of the track, allowing Lorde to share her perspective on the situation.
Notably, Lorde joined forces with Charli XCX during weekend one at Coachella to perform the hit single together.
Following the announcement that her new album, Virgin, will be released on June 27th, Lorde delved behind the curtain to explain Brat’s influence during a conversation on BBC Radio 1.
The New Zealand singer-songwriter explained: “We were quite a way in it at that point, but Brat coming out really gave me a kick in a lot of ways. It forced me to further define what I was doing because Charli had so masterfully defined everything about Brat and I knew that what I was doing was very distinct to that.”
She then explained how Charli set a high bar with Brat, which made her step up her game, adding, “It’s just the amazing thing when a peer throws the gauntlet down like that, you’re like ‘OK, yeah, we’ve gotta pick it up.’ I’ve spoken to a lot of peers who’ve all had the same feelings. It’s very sick and I’m so grateful to her.”
Reflecting on the remix, she added, “Doing the remix together and meeting her in that place of rugged vulnerability and cracking open the thing… People responded really well to that – I was like ‘OK, cool, this is a good thing to be doing.”
“I really suffer from this thing of not feeling my own power… and the remix just started me up and I was like, ‘No, no, people are listening and they care and your words carry real weight’,” Lorde continued.
So far, Lorde has teased Virgin with the release of lead single ‘What Was That‘, produced by Jim E-Stack, and has already topped the Spotify charts in the United States.
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