"Yellow Flicker Beat" | ||||
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Single by Lorde | ||||
from the album The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | ||||
Released | 29 September 2014 | |||
Recorded | 28–29 August 2014 | |||
Studio | Lakehouse (Asbury Park) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:52 | |||
Label | Republic | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | ||||
Lorde singles chronology | ||||
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The Hunger Games singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Yellow Flicker Beat" on YouTube |
"Yellow Flicker Beat" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde released on 29 September 2014 as the lead single from the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 by Republic Records. Written by Lorde and Joel Little and produced by Little and Paul Epworth, it is as an art pop and electropop song with minimal synthesisers, drums, and vocal samples in its production. Music critics compared its instrumentation style to the singer's work on her 2013 debut album Pure Heroine. The track's lyrics refer to the rise of Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of The Hunger Games (2008–2010) young adult dystopian novel trilogy.
"Yellow Flicker Beat" was well received by music critics, who praised its lyrical content for being more mature than that of Lorde's previous releases. Commercially, the song peaked at number 34 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and entered the record charts of several nations, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. A music video for the song, directed by Emily Kai Bock, was released on 7 November 2014. Four days later, a remix of the song, titled "Flicker (Kanye West Rework)" and co-produced by Lorde and Kanye West, was released. Lorde performed the original version at the 2014 American Music Awards on 23 November 2014. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globe Awards and Best Song at the Critics' Choice Awards.