Themes of spirituality, wellness and naturalism permeate this video showcasing Lorde and a group of women in a sort of loose, but still tightly choreographed ritual.
Any Insane Clown Posse fan can tell you that magnets and the reason why we're attracted to certain things is beyond comprehension. So it's possible that Lorde can't explain why she fell for the philandering Hills douchebag at the center of this story, but you can be damn sure she knows what she's gonna do to him when she finds out about the other women in his life.
You bought a pack of smokes for your 18th birthday. Ella "Lorde" Yelich-O’Connor celebrated her's by releasing a hugely anticipated video for this new song off The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. (And hey, maybe she also bought cigarettes, although I doubt it).
The video skips the usual movie clipjob in favor of a series of unexplained, yet surely not unrelated vignettes that bear several filmic influences, especially Kubrick.
Emily Kai Bock, director: "Ella emailed me during the summer while she was on tour with Majical Cloudz, who I made a video for a couple years ago. I was amazed that she would reach out to me directly. Usually with such a big-name artist, there is a team of people you have to go through, but she kept a close connection to me from start to finish - from feedback on the treatment to editing notes, we were in constant touch.
Ella is a true collaborator. She had sent me a reference video of Mae West being interviewed by Dick Cavett. In the clip, Dick Cavett walks across a massive airplane hanger to this tiny lit set, where Mae West is reclining in this chair - it's a really surreal interview setting.
I wrote her a treatment with a bunch of these kind of set ideas, of things that could live within a dark void of a large vacant space, under a singular light - a motel room, a confessional, a chandelier, a streetlamp, and so on - and she loved it. I was really excited about the idea of using black as a way to transition between the worlds, losing the context of what is exterior and what is interior.”
Take one of the greatest songs ever and invite Pharrell Williams, Emeli Sande, Elton John, Lorde, Chris Martin, Florence Welch, Kylie Minogue, Stevie Wonder, Brian May, Jake Bugg, One Direction, Chrissie Hynde, Jamie Cullum, Dave Grohl, Sam Smith, and many others to join songwriter Brian Wilson in the most epic group since "We Are The World." The fact its coupled to an ambitious and stylish video directed by Francois Rousselet, of Jonas & Francois, that includes every single performer in uniquely appropriate set-ups makes it all the better — and yes, there's a charitable tie-in.
Call this the next-generation opening credits to Goldfinger. Lorde's "Tennis Court" gets a glossy makeover by EDM rising star Flume... and some glossy visuals to match.
The story here is that Lorde had a dream a few months back about teens in charge of their own world, dealing with, in her own words via Facebook, "tests that didn't need to be passed in order to be allowed in: sometimes the person who loses is stronger." So, no Lord Of The Flies violence here; just the current young ruler of music running things her own way: no bling, no product placement [ed: Sorry, Hyundai], no frills. Yeezus' heiress apparent, she is not.
