Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste
Can you reach Lorde? No, you can’t! At least, not if you try to play the new transparent CD version of her album Virgin. Billboard reports that fans who received the transparent disc, which is the only CD format of Virgin Lorde has sold thus far, weren’t able to play the music on most standard CD players. Per the outlet, some have hypothesized that the CD doesn’t work precisely because the disc is clear, confusing the optical sensors of older machinery. (Representatives for Lorde did not immediately respond to The A.V. Club‘s request for comment.)
The transparent CD—currently sold out—was offered as a sort of collectible item that complemented the themes of the album; Lorde has described the music itself as transparent and clear. (Her store also has similar vinyl offerings in “translucent red,” “clear,” and “bathwater” colors.) The fully recyclable Virgin CD is also an extension of the environmental practices Lorde put into place during the Solar Power era. For that album, she didn’t sell CDs at all, explaining at the time that she “didn’t wanna make something that would end up in a landfill in 2 years, but more than that, I wanted to make something that symbolised my commitment to asking questions of our systems, and making stuff with intention and sensitivity.” Unfortunately, her attempt to compromise with Virgin came at the expense of fans who not only can’t play the music on their CD players but also reportedly can’t download the files to their computers (The Verge reports one fan noting that “PC was able to rip, but the files are not great,” adding there was “distortion and clipping”).
Virgin hit shelves on June 27, an album that is “urgent, immediate, and alive in a way Lorde has never been before—and few of her peers could accomplish,” as this writer opined in The A.V. Club‘s A review of the record. It’s currently projected to be her first number one album on the U.K. charts, while Hits Daily Double predicts it’ll debut in the number two slot in the U.S. In a post earlier this week, Lorde alluded to cut tracks from the main record, suggesting that perhaps a deluxe version could be released in the future. Hopefully that one will be playable, if so!
