Lorde Reveals She Discussed Her “Broadening” Gender Identity With Chappell Roan

Lorde is opening up about her gender identity. 

In a cover story with Rolling Stone ahead of her upcoming new album Virgin, the singer-songwriter revealed she had a discussion about gender with Chappell Roan, an artist who has grown to become one of her close friends. When asked by the outlet how she identifies, she said, “[Chappell Roan] asked me this same question.” She added, “[Chappell] 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 added. “I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.”

The “What Was That” singer confirmed that she still identifies as a cis woman with “she/her” pronouns and that she’s “in the middle gender-­wise.” Still, Lorde clarified, “I don’t think that [my identity] is radical.” 

“I see these incredibly brave young people, and it’s complicated,” Lorde said. “Making the expression privately is one thing, but I want to make very clear that I’m not trying to take any space from anyone who has more on the line than me. Because I’m, comparatively, in a very safe place as a wealthy, cis, white woman.” 

Virgin will elaborate more on Lorde’s gender identity, as the outlet also revealed the opening track of the record will include the lyric: “Some days I’m a woman / Some days I’m a man.” 

She recalled a specific moment when she embraced her gender fluidity when trying on a pair of men’s jeans at a clothing store. Lorde sent a photo to one of the album’s key collaborators, Jim-E Stack, and “He was like, ‘I want to see the you that’s in this picture represented in the music.’ This was before I had any sense of my gender broadening at all,” she added. 

Virgin will arrive June 27, with the album’s cover art (which features a blue x-ray image showing a zipper going down a pelvis, a belt buckle and an IUD) also hinting at what’s to come from the record.

Lorde opened up about deciding to go off birth control in late 2023 during the time she wrote “What Was That” and another song, “Man of the Year.” The singer described the decision to omit birth control as feeling like she “had cut some sort of cord between myself and this regulated femininity” that in return “allowed things to open up.”

“I hadn’t ovulated in 10 years. And when I ovulated for the first time, I cannot describe to you how crazy it was. One of the best drugs I’ve ever done,” she said. “It sounds crazy, but I felt that all of a sudden [when I got off birth control], I was off the map of femininity. And I totally believed that that allowed things to open up.”