Webster

The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions." --American Statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852)


Sunday, April 4, 2021

Monday Music ""Yellow Flicker Beat" by Lorde

 My Apologies for the length of not publishing anything on my blog, I have been really busy with real world stuff, nothing bad, just really busy and didn't have time to get into the computer much to do any posting or research.

  Man the meme is still rolling along.....

I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in November of 2019? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines set up the Tannerite Rover, turn on the water irrigation system and fill it with gasoline instead of water and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song about people standing for their beliefs and willing to fight for them no matter the cost, Good Music  unlike that crap they listen to now.  What can I say, My humor is warped....just a bit. Next week will be "Dogs Of War" by Pink Floyd, This one was suggested by a reader " Jay Karamales"  Now that should really cause some psych evals., hehehe, some poor ATF guy trying to explain the attraction to his mother because he is imaging himself as The savior of the American way rather than working for an agency that have the initials of a convenience store.  I was thinking of this song would be good for one of the alphabet agencies knocking and we have the attitude of the people that hate the state in the movie "Hunger Games" because we ain't gonna answer that door.  They can kick it in and start "the Dance" 

          Now reader  "Glypto Dropem" suggested this song.


The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2014 dystopian science fiction film of the same name, curated by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde. The film is an adaptation of the 2010 novel by Suzanne Collins and is the third installment in The Hunger Games film series. The soundtrack has been described by music critics as an electropop record with elements of hip hopsynth pop and the use of electronic beats throughout the album. The melodic style of the songs is a deviation from the guitar-driven sound of the previous series' soundtracks.

The soundtrack received positive reviews following its release from music critics who praised its dystopian mood and Lorde's curation. It was included on several year-end lists. "Yellow Flicker Beat" was released as the lead single on September 29, 2014, and received generally positive reviews. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards and Best Song at the 20th Critics' Choice Awards. "The Hanging Tree" is the only song included in the film's score. It was later included on the re-released soundtrack, and after the album's success was announced as the second single. The album debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 21,000 units according to Billboard.


"Yellow Flicker Beat" was written by Lorde (credited under her birth-name Ella Yelich-O'Connor) and Joel Little and produced by Little and Paul Epworth. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, the track is composed in the key of A minor and follows the chord progression Am–Dm–Am–E and in the common time signature. The song moves at a tempo of 96 beats per minute, and Lorde's vocals span a range of E3 to E5. "Yellow Flicker Beat" is an electropop and art pop song,with minimal synthesisersdrums,and vocal samples in its production.

The song's lyrics refer to the rise of Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of The Hunger Games (2008–2010) young adult dystopian novel trilogy. Beginning in a slow and measured way, the song features the "touched by pain" lyrics—"I'm a princess cut from marble / smoother than a storm." As the drums start, Lorde sings "This is the start". Zuel opined that the line was "also the beginning of the end of something". Carley noted that the lines, "The scars that mark my body / They're silver and gold" and "My blood is a flood of rubies, precious stones" showcased "a big step towards more mature lyrics" on Lorde's part. Music critics compared its production to the singer's work on her 2013 debut album Pure Heroine.

On 31 July 2014, it was announced that Lorde would be the curator for the soundtrack of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 (2014) after a recommendation from her publisher. On 23 September 2014, Lorde announced that the song, titled "Yellow Flicker Beat", would be released on 29 September 2014. "Yellow Flicker Beat" was recorded at the Lakehouse Recording Studios in Asbury Park, New Jersey on 28 and 29 August 2014. The song was engineered by Matt Wiggins and Erik Kase Romero. The song was released digitally on the iTunes Stores worldwide by Republic Records on 29 September 2014 The same day, it was sent to Italian contemporary hit radio and US adult album alternative (AAA) and modern rock stations.


The music video for "Yellow Flicker Beat" was directed by Emily Kai Bock, and was released on 7 November 2014 at midnight (NZDT), when Lorde turned eighteen years old. Lorde contacted Bock via email after they met through Devon Welsh, the frontman of Majical Cloudz, her opening band on the Pure Heroine Tour. The video was filmed in New Jersey and at Park Avenue Armory in New York during New York Fashion Week in between shows by American designers Marc Jacobs and Tommy Hilfiger. Lorde's production team built each set and shot the video in one day. The concept of the video was inspired by a 1976 interview from The Dick Cavett Show with American actress Mae West.

The video begins with Lorde singing in a faintly lit motel room, with a television displaying static and an unattended running car facing the window. The singer is styled in a white dress shirt, black slacks and her hair in a pompadour. The clip then showcases Lorde looking away from the camera in a room surrounded with potted plants. The camera moves away towards a dark, abandoned road filled by smoke with only one street light beaming on the singer. As the chorus begins, a group of teenagers form a circle and point a flashlight at Lorde as she dances inside a hangar, which critics described as "twitchy" and "witchy" In the next scene, the singer sits alone on the edge of a dark-lit public swimming pool. She then arrives at a cocktail party where she falls into what critics described as a "surreal cliff"; the singer revealed that she cut her foot filming this scene. The next shows her dancing besides a white curtain. The video ends with her sitting alone on a bus stop bench as the camera pans away.

The video received positive reviews from critics; it was praised for its concept but criticised for not incorporating footage from the film. Its visual direction was compared to the works of Australian director Baz Luhrmann and American filmmaker David Lynch.The singer's fashion was likened to that of American musician Prince, while her dancing drew comments to Swedish singer RobynBillboard's Zach Dionne praised the fashion choices on the video, calling it "awesome". MTV's Abby Devora wrote that Lorde "is [...] truly coming into her own" calling the visual a welcome change from her earlier videos, while Slant writer Alexa Camp stated that her performance in the video showed "elegance and sophistication." The scene where Lorde and other guests smile toward a camera at a cocktail party was compared to the ending of the 1980 horror film The Shining.

     

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