Hear Lorde’s New Song ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’

Lorde‘s contribution to the upcoming soundtrack for the latest instalment in the Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire, is available to stream below. Titled Yellow Flicker Beat, it’s the first original track released by the Kiwi songstress since she set the world ablaze with her debut album, Pure Heroine, last year.

The track kicks off with Lorde humming a single note before layering vocals on top, in a style reminiscent of Björk’s experimental a capella work on her 2004 album, Medúlla. With the help of Adele and Coldplay producer Paul Epworth, the track begins to soar with heavy beats and oscillating, siren-like synth layers.

The 17-year-old began teasing fans with lyrical excerpts from the track earlier this month, taking to Instagram to share the song’s opening lines: “I’m a princess cut from marble, smoother than a storm / And the scars that mark my body / They’re silver and gold“.

In a Tumblr post released along with the new tune, the young Kiwi reflects on a very big year and a very significant anniversary.

“We are almost at the end, the point where this soundtrack gets taken away from me and becomes something real,” she says. “I’m reminded of this day last year, when pure heroine came out in this country. the feeling of something very solitary that i had worked on spinning around and around further away from me, becoming someone else’s, everyone’s.”

See you at the Oscars next year, then, Ella. Listen to a stream of Yellow Flicker Beat below.

Listen: Lorde – Yellow Flicker Beat

Photos: Lorde – Melbourne, Festival Hall 15/07/14

Photos by Brett Schewitz

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