The wait for Lorde’s “Man of the Year” is over. The singer-songwriter teased the track multiple times before fans anticipated its release, from her custom Thom Browne Met Gala look to her bombshell Rolling Stone cover story, where she opened up about expanding her gender identity.

While speaking to the publication, the Grammy winner revealed that a conversation with pop diva Chappell Roan prompted her to address how she viewed herself.

“She 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 explained. “I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.”

“My gender got way more expansive when I gave my body more room,” she added.

The track is the second single off her upcoming fourth album, Virgin. As we prep for the full body work to drop in a few weeks, it’s time to dive into Lorde’s “Man of the Year” lyrics.

Lyrics provided by Genius

[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

Riding bikes is a common theme throughout Lorde’s music, but especially during the Virgin era. Her “What Was That” music video sees her riding through New York City, drawing parallels to her first verse on “Man of the Year” (perhaps it was another Easter egg). She details a range of emotions in this relationship, where she faced her own internal challenges before this person came into her life.

She alludes to becoming “someone more like myself,” which could potentially tie back to her personal journey with her gender identity.

When writing the track, she told Rolling Stone that she stuck duct tape to her chest as a makeshift binder because “that was fully representative of how my gender felt in that moment.”

“I went to the cupboard, and I got the tape out, and I did it to myself,” she explained. “I have this picture staring at myself. I was blonde. It scared me what I saw. I didn’t understand it. But I felt something bursting out of me. It was crazy. It was something jagged. There was this violence to it.”

[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

On the chorus, she reflects on her self-acceptance and euphoric feelings she’s experiencing on her own and asks if anyone else will ever fully understand and accept her in the same way. The revelation could have potentially led to the end of her connection with the person she was referring to in the song’s first verse.

[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)

It’s giving “If I Were a Boy” by Beyoncé...in the sense that she’s naming things that men do in their day-to-day routines (or lack thereof). There’s also some parallelism to her “What Was That” lyrics: “Indio haze / We’re in a sandstorm / And it knocks me out.”

[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

The man of the year? That’d be Lorde.

In a 2023 social media post and during her recent Rolling Stone cover story, she revealed, “I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.”