In September of 2013, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, better known as Lorde, released her first studio album, Pure Heroine, which quickly rose on the Billboard 200 and ultimately peaked at number three. The album produced five singles, four of which landed on the Billboard Hot 100, with “Royals” easily securing the number one spot and becoming instantly recognizable to anyone with a radio.
Now, just over a year later, Lorde is preparing to make another huge release, this time in the form of a soundtrack. After her incredibly successful album and a track on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, (she covered Tears For Fears’ classic song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”), the young singer/songwriter was chosen to display her talents in a new way, as curator of the soundtrack for the upcoming blockbuster, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. This position has allowed her the opportunity to choose artists’ talents to showcase on the album, as well as to write her own, film specific pieces.
Being a strong female figure that spends a lot of time in the public eye, Lorde can be made comparable to the series’ main character, Katniss Everdeen, and that (combined with her incredible talent) makes her an obvious choice for this role. Although, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that she is also a huge fan of the books!
The first of the original tracks was released on September 29th and is titled “Yellow Flicker Beat”. Lorde took to her Tumblr around the same time of the release to thank her fans for the past year of her life and introduced the track by stating, “It’s my first offering from what I hope will be a soundtrack you love. It’s my attempt at getting inside her head, Katniss’. I hope you like it.” And with lyrics such as “People talk to me, and all their faces blur, but I got my fingers laced together and I made a little prison. And I’m locking up everyone that ever laid a finger on me.
I’m going in”, it is easy for fans of the series to see that her “attempt” was successful.
While the soundtrack doesn’t release until November, just a few weeks after her 18th birthday, Lorde is suspected to announce which artists will be featured on the album very soon. Check out the track for yourself and be sure to let me know your thoughts!
xx
