Lorde reflects on doubting body image, ‘I was very weak’

Lorde is getting real about her relationship with food, body image, and the emotional whirlwind behind her upcoming album Virgin.

In a refreshingly candid interview with Document Journal published May 1, the What Was That singer opened up about the journey she’s been on over the past four years—and it’s far from glamorous.

“I had made my body very small, because I thought that that was what you did as a woman and a woman on display,” Lorde, 28, told the outlet.

“I thought, I’m small. This will communicate to people that I’m taking my position seriously.”

That shrinking act, however, came at a cost. “I was very weak. I look back now, and I don’t have that same feeling of floating away. I eat as much as I want and need now. I wasn’t very embodied,” she admitted.

With Virgin set to drop June 27, Lorde shared she made a deliberate choice not to release anything “until I’m in my body the way I know I’m supposed to be.”

She explained, “This album is a byproduct of that process of fully coming into my body and feeling the fullness of my power. It’s cool to be back in that place of, like, the portal opening and the weight.”

And if you’re wondering whether this new era comes with some serious self-acceptance—oh, it absolutely does.

“I’m not stealing from myself,” Lorde said. “I often would think about not eating very much as I felt like every bite of food I had was stolen. I was like, hang on, this has gotten weird.”