There's a great new interview with Lorde in L.A. Times.com about the Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack and Yellow Flicker Beat. She gives a more insight into the song, songwrighting process and the lyrics than we've heard before, and we though it was pretty fascinating.
From L.A. Times.com:
The low hum that begins "Yellow Flicker Beat" takes the viewer from the final shot of the transformed heroine Katniss Everdeen to the closing credits of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.
"I liked the idea of the film ending on this close-up of Katniss' face, and then this very creepy, cracked hum kind of signaling your entry into her head, her deepest thoughts and secrets," says New Zealand singer-songwriter Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, better known as Lorde. "I'd been listening to a lot of spirituals, songs like 'Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,' and I loved the crackling, flawed sounds, both of the old recordings and the delivery of the vocals, so that definitely had some influence."
"This was my first time writing for a film, and it was important to me that it still felt like my song, not something that would feel out of place at one of my shows," Lorde says via email. "I wanted the song to feel almost stream-of-consciousness, very much Katniss' innermost thoughts, and when writing it, I could feel the lines blurring, my authorial voice overlapping with hers."
"This was my first time writing for a film, and it was important to me that it still felt like my song, not something that would feel out of place at one of my shows," Lorde says via email. "I wanted the song to feel almost stream-of-consciousness, very much Katniss' innermost thoughts, and when writing it, I could feel the lines blurring, my authorial voice overlapping with hers."
And my necklace is of rope / I tie it and untie. People talk to me, but nothing ever hits home / People talk to me, and all the voices just burn holes.
"Obviously I'm not angry in the way that she is at the end of the film, but I could identify with that feeling of everyone wanting Katniss to do a certain thing, and the pressure of that expectation."
Still, Lorde's key contribution is "Yellow Flicker Beat," which catches the Girl on Fire on the verge of stepping into a holocaust. The quiet of that hum explodes into a chorus declaring, "This is the start / Of how it all ends."
"Katniss has so much swirling under the surface, so many different voices both internal and external telling her what to do. A storm isn't smooth, a fight isn't quiet, and I don't think Katniss is just one thing at once," she says.
"I also liked the 'fingers laced together and I made a little prison, and I'm locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me' part — it alluded to the 'playing God' nature of Katniss' role as Mockingjay and is probably the most empowering line I've ever written."
Still, Lorde's key contribution is "Yellow Flicker Beat," which catches the Girl on Fire on the verge of stepping into a holocaust. The quiet of that hum explodes into a chorus declaring, "This is the start / Of how it all ends."
"Katniss has so much swirling under the surface, so many different voices both internal and external telling her what to do. A storm isn't smooth, a fight isn't quiet, and I don't think Katniss is just one thing at once," she says.
"I also liked the 'fingers laced together and I made a little prison, and I'm locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me' part — it alluded to the 'playing God' nature of Katniss' role as Mockingjay and is probably the most empowering line I've ever written."