Listen to Lorde's New Hunger Games Track 'Yellow Flicker Beat'
It's a power play.
Let the games begin! Lorde has unveiled her much-anticipated lead track for the Hunger Games Mockingjay: Part 1 and it's the vengeful, Katniss Everdeen anthem we were priming ourselves for.
'Yellow Flicker Beat,' a collaboration with Coldplay and Adele producer Paul Epworth, is menacing and a lyrical power play through and through: "They used to shout my name, now they whisper it" / "I'm locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me."
It starts of slow and ominous, carried by Lorde' raspy vocals, then swiftly takes a bass-heavy, synthesized turn on the hook. The sonic transformation from soft flickers to vivid flames not only runs parallel with the song's suggestive title, but Katniss' watershed moment in the book.
"Basically I wrote the song specifically for the movie, it wasn't something that I had to draft up previously," Lorde told KROQ's earlier today. "I reread the books, and I just wanted to tap into everything that Katniss is feeling in that film and what's the crazy stuff that goes on."
*Warning: Spoiler Below*
"One of the things that happened in the book which to me felt like this crazy turning point was her best friend Peter tries to kill her, he's been brainwashed and tries to strangle her," she said. "It just felt like something so irreparable and something that the characters couldn't turn back from. I felt like Katniss was like 'okay, I'm taking names. I'm coming for blood. You don't do these types of things to my friends and family and get away with it.' I just wanted to make something kind of dark and haunting."
The song was recorded at New Jersey's Lakehouse Recording Studios, which was recommended by the Garden State's own Bruce Springsteen (who covered 'Royals' live in concert this year).
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In addition to providing the opening single, Lorde also curated the entire soundtrack for the film. The Mockinjay: Part 1 soundtrack drops November 18, while the film hits theaters November 21.
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Photo via Getty Images
Lauren Valenti is Vogue’s former senior beauty editor. Her work has also appeared on ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, and in In Style. She graduated with a liberal arts degree from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, with a concentration on Culture and Media Studies and a minor in Journalism.