Listen: Lorde's new single from the Hunger Games soundtrack

New Zealand rock singer and best friend of Taylor Swift, Lorde, dropped a new single this morning that will appear in the next Hunger Games movie, which is out in November. The song is called "Yellow Flicker Beat," and Lorde wrote on her Tumblr that "it's my first offering from what i hope will be a soundtrack you love. it's my attempt at getting inside her head, katniss'. i hope you like it."

The one year anniversary of the US release of Lorde's debut album, Pure Heroine, was Saturday. The album hit no. 3 on the Billboard charts and was nominated for the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album.  Lorde reminisced on her blog that:

"the past year of my life has seen everything around me multiply in size and number — the stamps on my passport, the number of people i have to ask before i ride on the ferris wheel after my set at a festival, the decibels that follow me when i walk around in public. the other thing that's grown is me — my fitness, my mental stamina, my ability to think clearly and make decisions — but most of all, my capacity for love. the thousands upon thousands (wait, millions(?!!)) of you who bought pure heroine truly feel like friends to me"

Lorde's growth as an artist is evident in this song. She draws out the drops in the song for maximum impact, and the song really is, as she sings, "smoother than the storm." It has the momentum of Katniss Everdeen, and it boasts a pop star who is coming into her own.

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