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Sydni's avatar

“She remembers the exact shade of sky when she first heard Video Games or Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, and the way the world felt. She journals in long, swan-necked sentences. She still believes the stars mean something.” i am precisely the right age (and in precisely the right phase of my cycle) for this to hit me like a speeding car. i’m going to be aching about this whole piece for a long time. thank you. ❣️

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emmi sanguine's avatar

what a love letter to an album i love this

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Vaishnavi's avatar

ma'am, sincerely, thank you.

The album is a follow up to the kids who didn't want to grow up but wanted all the agency of an adult. where are they now?

Stuck chasing sunshine and bad friendships, holding on to hope and letting it destroy you. Being in awe with one's own survival but coming in it's way unknowingly. To shape shift into a different role, to swim through the current world of inescapable tragedy, to be selfish and silently selfless.

thank you for your words, they made the album more special.

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ashley (any pronouns)'s avatar

(i’m not even done reading this yet) & it’s changing more than my brain chemistry

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Sura Talal's avatar

I sincerely teared up reading this. Absolutely beautiful.

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Fernanda's avatar

its surely been a pleasure to grow up and come of age with the sequence of lorde's albums. even solar power has its precious moments (esp. stoned at the nail salon), as a moment of pseudo clarity of your mid-twenties, only to fall into a bigger wave of lack of sense and meaning or a bigger narrative when you are reaching your thirties, which i think is what virgin tries to convey. anyways, i always loved your takes on instagram and im really happy to read you on substack as well!

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Anna Garcia Molina's avatar

I want to print all of this and glue it to my journal

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nora blue's avatar

i haven’t listened to this album yet but i can already tell it’s gonna destroy me. such a gorgeous review!

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Athraa's avatar

Oh…my…god…

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Sara Murray's avatar

This does perfect justice to the album. I think I love Virgin more for having read this! Totally agree with the idea of it being a clinical examination rather than a theatrical piece. Also the line “long, swan-necked sentences”, just gorgeous.

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evie's avatar

yes yes and yes to this entire post

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ella jade's avatar

this is the best thing i've ever written i want it tattooed on my mind forever

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Remi's avatar

This feels like a translation for an image right in front of me, something I’m too close to and don’t know how to interpret

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ellie 🦷's avatar

so beautifully written

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angelette's avatar

Incredible.

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