It’s been four years since New Zealand’s Lorde took the pop world by storm at just 16 years old with her hit “Royals.” Since then, the singer-songwriter has laid low aside from a contribution to 2014’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 soundtrack and guest vocals on Disclosure’s 2015 single “Magnets,” a standout from their album Caracal. After teasing her comeback record last week, Lorde has unveiled “Green Light,” the first single from her long-awaited sophomore effort, Melodrama.
Written and produced by Lorde, Jack Antonoff, and Frank Dukes, “Green Light” strays from the minimalist synth-pop of the singer’s debut, Pure Heroine, opening with stark piano chords and Lorde’s instantly recognizable voice before erupting with a 4/4 beat and a clash of live percussion. Those piano chords turn notably house-y, while the vocals take on a clipped, syncopated meter: “Thought you said that you’d always be in love, but you’re not in love.”
Watch the music video, directed by Grant Singer, below:
Melodrama is due this summer on Lava/Republic Records.
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