"Man Of The Year" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, serving as the fourth track on her fourth studio album, Virgin. It was released as the album's second single on May 29, 2025, through Universal Music New Zealand and Republic Records.
Background[]
On May 19, 2025, the single was announced alongside its cover art, photographed by Talia Chetrit (known for her photographic still lifes, nude portraiture and for the inclusion of references to the apparatus of photography in her work), and shared via Lorde’s social media and text newsletter.[1] The following day, Lorde teased an 18-second snippet on TikTok, pairing it with a beachside video captioned "I DIDN’T THINK HE’D APPEAR". Exactly one week later, she revealed that the single would be released on May 29 through a second video and snippet. On May 28, 2025, Lorde hosted an Instagram live performing Man Of The Year.
In an interview with Australian radio show Triple J, Lorde shared that she began writing the song with Jim-E Stack the day after she attended a GQ 'Men of the Year' party in November 2023.[2] Before writing "Man of the Year", Lorde was sitting on her living room floor, "trying to visualize a version of herself that was fully representative of how [her] gender felt in that moment." What she envisioned was herself in men's jeans, wearing only a gold chain and duct tape on her chest—an image she said felt raw and impermanent.[3] The cover art for the single depicts Lorde wearing blue jeans, topless with her chest taped down by silver duct tape. The day prior to the song's release, Lorde staged a pop-up event in Auckland, New Zealand, in which she played the song for fans in a YMCA bathroom.[4]
Critical reception[]
Vulture's Fran Hoepfner praised the track, and called it "anything but an artistic retread" that "takes all that's made the last three albums great and funnels it into one whole song".[5] In a mixed review, Walden Green of Pitchfork wrote that the song "doesn't have peaks or valleys; it goes up and up and up and then it's gone," and compared it to Lorde's "Green Light" and Frank Ocean's "Solo" which was covered by Lorde on the Melodrama World Tour.[6]
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
Glidin' through on my bike, glidin' through
I knew from my recent ego death
Silencing overnight, violent sweet music
You met me at a really strange time in my life
Take my knife and I cut the cord
My babe, can't believe I've become someone else
Someone more like myself
[Chorus]
Who's gon' love me like this?
Oh-oh, oh, who could get me like this?
Let it flow down to me
Love me like this
Now I'm broken up
Mm-mm, uh-huh-uh
[Verse 2]
Now I go about my day
Riding it like a wave
Playing it any way I want
Swish mouthwash, jerk off
Uh-uh, uh-uh-uh
Days go by in the haze (Uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh)
Stay up and sleep late (Uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh)
(Uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh)
[Chorus]
Who's gon' love me like this?
Oh-oh, oh, who could get me like this?
Way he flew down through me
Love me like this
Now we're broken up
Let's hear it for the man of the year
Mm-mm, uh-huh-uh
Hear it for the man of the year
[Bridge]
How I hope that a man could love me right
Touching my shoulders, my face in the light
[Outro]
Oh, I didn't think he'd appear
But let's hear it for the man of the year
Hear it for the man of the year
Well, let's hear it for the man of the year
Music video[]
| Music video | Information | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Premiere | May 29, 2025 |
| Filmed | Empty Studio Loft, New York/Los Angeles | |
| Director | Grant Singer | |
| Producer | Saul Germaine | |
| Production co | ||
| Exec. producer | ||
| Editor | Nick Rondeau | |
| Choreographer | Stephen Galloway & Charissa Kroeger | |
| Length | 3:16 | |
Background[]
The music video premiered on YouTube on May 29, 2025, directed by Grant Singer, which features Lorde dancing to the song with duct tape across her chest and dancing in sand in an empty loft.[7] Writing for ARTnews, Tessa Solomon stated that "the tape becomes a means of liberation as she leaps, crawls, and cavorts through the dirt pile in a mad modern dance."[8] Critics interpreted the video's setting as being an homage to the permanent art installation The New York Earth Room, an apartment filled with soil by artist Walter De Maria.[5]
Synopsis[]
The music video started with Lorde in a white room staring at a Window wearing a White T-Shirt and Jeans, she then sat down on a Chair and began taking off her shirt, she then took Duct Tape and covered her Chest with layers of it, she then puts her hair up and began running to a pile of dirt. The rest of the music video is Lorde dancing on the pile of dirt before lying down.
References[]
- ↑ https://link.fans/moty
- ↑ https://www.gq.com/story/lorde-man-of-the-year-gq-party-song-meaning
- ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/lorde-new-album-virgin-breakup-gender-1235336574/
- ↑ https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lorde-stages-secret-pop-up-show-in-auckland-bathroom-for-hometown-fans-77442/
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://www.vulture.com/article/lorde-man-of-the-year-review.html
- ↑ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/lorde-man-of-the-year/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/lorde-man-of-the-year-video-virgin-lp-tracklist-1235983767/
- ↑ https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/lorde-man-of-the-year-new-york-earth-room-1234743926/
[]
v • e 
| |
|---|---|
| Featured tracks | Hammer • What Was That • Shapeshifter • Man Of The Year • Favourite Daughter • Current Affairs • Clearblue • GRWM • Broken Glass • If She Could See Me Now • David |
| Scrapped tracks | Invisible Ink • Magnetic • River • Silver Moon • Trying • Unknown song written with Fabiana Palladino |
| Producers | Lorde • Jim-E Stack • Dan Nigro • Buddy Ross |
| Writers | Ella Yelich O'Connor • Fabiana Palladino • Andrew Aged • Buddy Ross • Dan Nigro • Devonté Hynes |
| Tours | Ultrasound World Tour |