Review: Lorde – ‘Green Light’

For 20-year-old Ella Yelich-O’Connor, known more widely by her stage name of Lorde, the last four years must have been rather dramatic as she became the youngest artist since 1987 (and the first New Zealander) to top the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Royals’ before embarking on a tour that took her to Brixton, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. Although she started work on her follow-up to 2013’s Pure Heroine in December of that year, it took until last week for the first taste of her sophomore album Melodrama, the addictively intense ‘Green Light.’

On the surface, ‘Green Light’ is about heartbreak. Slow to start, Lorde’s powerful vocals establish the narrative for the rest of the song with lyrics that speak to the heart (“I do my makeup in somebody else’s car / We order different drinks at the same bars / I know about what you did and I wanna scream the truth”) but, with an energetic and emotional chorus, this is also a song about letting go. Lorde described it as “that drunk girl at the party dancing around crying about her ex-boyfriend” and you can really feel it – ‘Green Light’ is ideal for those Friday nights when you’ve had a crap day and just want to say “screw it” and go out and have fun. Make no mistake, this is perfect floorfiller: ‘Green Light’ is far more electrifying than anything we’ve heard from her before, and it has me very excited for the Melodrama to come.

‘Green Light’ is out now via Universal Music