Pop chanteuse Lorde unveiled the music video for “Yellow Flicker Beat,” the lead single from the soundtrack to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part I, which she also curated. In a message posted on her website, the New Zealand singer, who turned 18 today, says “Yellow Flicker Beat” is “about katniss [sic] realizing that things have crossed a line, about being pushed to the edge and right over it.” She describes her character in the video, directed by Emily Kai Bock, as “a shapeshifter, full of intensity and impulse.” Though Lorde can come off as awkward and slightly unhinged during public appearances, there’s an elegance and sophistication to her performance here. As for the song itself, it’s sonically darker, more dramatic, and fleshed out than the minimalist pop songs on her debut, Pure Heroine, befitting an epic blockbuster franchise like The Hunger Games.
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