Lorde’s back with a new single. “Hammer” is the third offering from her upcoming album, Virgin, which will officially drop a week from today.
It’s the first track on the LP and, as Lorde put it, is “an ode to city life and horniness tbh.” Written by her and Jim-E Stack, the song pays homage to both of those themes with the opening lines: “There’s a heat in the pavement, my mercury’s raising / Don’t know if it’s love or if it’s ovulation.”
Some lyrics also nod to gender expression: “Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man,” she sings.
On her website, Lorde described the song as, “MAGIC JEWELRY. NINE MOONS. LARRY THE PIGEON MAN. FLIRTING WITH THE GUY AT MNZ. OVULATION. CRISP SPRING SUN. IMMENSE GRATITUDE TO BE ALIVE. BRAIDING WITH LANGUAGE. BUDDY’S GRANULAR SYNTH. LOGIC OPEN ON THE PLANE. BIG BREAKTHROUGH IN LONDON. FIRST SONG SENT TO MIX. ALWAYS TRACK 1. THE SOUND OF MY REBIRTH.”
Earlier today, she dropped the music video directed by Renell Medrano. She’s shown swinging naked in a hammock, smoking with her friends, running in a field, and getting a butt tattoo in the woods.
You can check out the full lyrics to the track below, courtesy of Genius.
[Verse 1]
There’s a heat in the pavement, my mercury’s raising
Don’t know if it’s love or if it’s ovulation
When you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail
The mist from the fountain is kissing my neck
The liquid crystal is in my grip
Anyone with a snake tongue, I show ‘em the chambers of my heart
[Pre-Chorus]
Now I know you don’t deal much in love and affection
But I really do think there could be a connection
I burn and I sing and I scheme and I dance
Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man, oh
[Chorus]
I might have been born again
I’m ready to feel like I don’t have thе answers
There’s pеace in the madness over our heads
Let it carry me o-o-o-o-on
[Post-Chorus]
On
Ah
Ah
[Verse 2]
Today, I’ll go to Canal Street, they’re piercing my ears
I’m making a wish when the needle goes in
Take an aura picture, read it and tell me who I am (Show me who I am)
[Pre-Chorus]
Now I know you don’t deal much in love and affection
But I really do think you can make an exception
It’s a beautiful life, so I play truant
I jerk tears and they pay me to do it, oh
[Chorus]
I might have been born again
I’m ready to feel like I don’t have the answers
There’s peace in the madness over our heads
Let it carry me o-o-o-o-on
[Post-Chorus]
On
Ah
Ah
Ah
Ah
Ah, ah, ah
Ah
[Outro]
Let it break me down till I’m just a wreck
Till I’m just a voice living in your head
It’s a fucked-up world, been to hell and back
But I’ve sent you a postcard from the edge
The edge
Mm, oh
Oh
