In the lead-up to the release of Lorde’s fourth album, Virgin, this past weekend, the singer’s social media was riddled with hints of what might come. Lorde, whose real name is Ella Marija Yelich-O’Connor, stoked hysteria in New York City’s Washington Square Park in April after she debuted her single “What Was That?” on top of a small wooden table. Other clues included her album cover image, a blue X-ray of a pelvis revealing an IUD, a belt buckle, and a button, reportedly taken by photographer Heji Shin.
What fans weren’t necessarily expecting, however, was the photo that came with her new vinyl record. They opened up the $33 LP to find a close-up shot of the New Zealand singer’s vulva, captured through a pair of unzipped clear pants. Lorde’s website advertises an eight-page full-color photography book that comes with the vinyl and warns of explicit content. Entertainment Weekly reported that the image portrays Lorde’s genitals.
American photographer Talia Chetrit, known for her intimate and sometimes erotic shots that challenge self-objectification, told Hyperallergic through a representative that she was the artist behind the stunning vinyl image. The photo accompanies an album full of tracks about unprotected sex, Lorde’s desire to please her own mother, and the pedestal she’s often put on, deviating from the heavily metaphorical lyrics of her earlier work.
The photograph of Lorde’s alleged vulva resembles several self-portraits Chetrit took beginning in 2016 in which she wears a clear plastic jumpsuit. In “Plastic Nude,” the photographer leans back onto a piano and spreads her legs. In another 2016 portrait taken in plastic pants, Chetrit bends over in front of a mirror.
In interviews, Chetrit has said that explorations of power dynamics and sexuality are foundational to her work. For one photograph, those explorations went as far as recruiting a boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend to pose naked upside-down in “Handstand” (2012). Some of her other photographs, including an image of a nipple shining through a tangle of metal chains, are in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Universal Records did not respond to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment on the photograph.
On social media, fans were quick to meme the image, baptizing it “Lordussy” as it circulated last week.
Unlike Sabrina Carpenter’s recent album art, which features the musician kneeling before what appears to be a man’s torso as a hand grips her hair, Lorde’s record insert isn’t drawing commentary about the male gaze or misogyny. Instead, many have celebrated the aesthetic of the picture included in the vinyl.
“It’s a major celeb showing a portion of her vulva,” one user said on X. “Not earth shattering, but still.”
In a Reddit forum discussing the image, a user commended Lorde for being “far ahead” and said other artists would soon begin copying her. Others didn’t quite understand what was meant by the image.
“I really don’t see what the big deal is,” one user wrote. “It’s not even like it’s a dirty picture and you can barely see anything.”
Vogue questioned whether the image could be a political commentary on a transphobic obsession with genitalia as the defining characteristic of gender, a compelling interpretation considering recent anti-trans rulings in the United Kingdom and the United States.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in May ahead of the album release, when Lorde was asked how she identifies, she recalled a conversation with her friend and fellow musician Chappell Roan.
“She was like, ‘So, are you nonbinary now?’ And I was like, ‘I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man,’” Lorde responded. “I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.”
