Now that you’ve had the chance to listen to Lorde’s “Yellow Flicker Beat” a few (…hundred…) times, you also get the chance to hear her speak about the song and the album, which she is curating as well. She was a guest on KROQ’s The Kevin & Bean Show, and she was quite candid about this project, which she calls “her baby.” She explained that she wrote the song from Katniss’ PoV:
“Basically I wrote the song specifically for the movie, it wasn’t something that I had to draft up previously. I reread the books, and I just wanted to tap into everything that Katniss is feeling in that film and what’s the crazy stuff that goes on. One of the things that happened in the book which to me felt like this crazy turning point was her best friend Peter tries to kill her, he’s been brainwashed and tries to strangle her. It just felt like something so irreparable and something that the characters couldn’t turn back from. I felt like Katniss was like ‘okay, I’m taking names. I’m coming for blood. You don’t do these types of things to my friends and family and get away with it.’ I just wanted to make something kind of dark and haunting.”
About the soundtrack itself, she didn’t give away many details about the artists it will include, although she did say it would be “diverse” — from up-and-coming acts to established artists that made her want to faint when she had to call them and make the offer.
“I got approached to curate the soundtrack a few months ago and I was like ‘OK, this sounds super fun but super hard… which was pretty accurate. It’s been a crazy process, super intense.”
“No one gives some random 17 year old from New Zealand the opportunity to soundtrack a major motion picture… It’s been very cool and I’m so glad that I’ve had the opportunity.”
You can listen to the full interview over at KROQ’s website. Be sure to comment and tell us what you think of it, and more importantly, what you thought of the song!