After a gap of over three years, Lorde finally dropped her first solo material since ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’, over the weekend. ‘Green Light’ is the first taste of her upcoming sophomore album Melodrama, scheduled for a June release. A Bit of Pop Music’s own review was enthusiastic to say the least, stating ‘Green Light’ “is going to make her a bigger pop star than she already is, because this sounds massive and like an absolute hit without trying to hard.” Let us see if our panel members agree!
Tim, the Netherlands
“So, for me, Lorde’s comeback was my most anticipated one of 2017. I’m a huge fan of her debut record and I thought ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’ was even more brilliant, and seeing how young she was when she put these songs out, you could say my expectations for her new stuff several years later were very high. Well, I can be short about it: she did not disappoint. At all. She kinda had me from the beginning of the song, which has a more bombastic sound than we are used to from her, and she herself sounds convincingly angry. Then, in the first minute, the song kinda swings into different directions – but in a good way – and all of a sudden we get a piano riddle that morphs into the chorus. And damn – what a chorus it is. This song is going to be huge. Oh, and to top it all off, the outro is even better. That album’s gonna be goooood.”
Marjolein, The Netherlands
“Whenever someone mentions Lorde, the lyrics of ‘Royals’ immediately dance through my mind. I think I, and with me the whole world, was ready for a new single and here it is! ‘Green Light’ thrives by quite radical changes in pace. It does not kill the flow at all though and actually sounds quite awesome. The song is very well constructed and it is great to hear those raw vocals again. The chorus takes the track to a higher level and makes it impossible to keep sitting still. It is totally not what I was expecting from new Lorde as most of her material is slower, but everybody is going to hear that she nails proper uptempo as well. I look forward to Melodrama.”
Jarrod, New Zealand
“As a New Zealander I feel like I have to like Lorde by default. We’re a very patriotic country and we don’t have a lot if any international success with our artists so when Lorde blew up around the would a lot of Kiwi’s who originally doubted her jumped on board. I can’t say that I was for or against her as an artist but I was happy for her success. Her debut album wasn’t what I listen to so after the first listen I didn’t play it again. Not because I didn’t think it was good but because it wasn’t my thing. After her long break from the music scene I was excited for her return, hoping she grew as an artist and would change up her sound a little bit. That’s exactly what she did with ‘Green Light’. In my opinion this song is very on trend with what’s on top 40 radio. An emotional, moody intro followed by a pumping chorus. Not a disappointing lead single but not exactly exciting either. It has me intrigued and anticipating what’s in store for her upcoming album.”
Zuheir, Malaysia
“It’s hard to be objective when I’m assessing Lorde’s singles. I am just head over heels for her voice, her sound, and her music. But it is not an unjustified bias because Lorde really knows the kind of music that celebrates her deep vocal tone. ‘Green Light’ is a paradigm of that. The song began low with almost no background music, but crescendo as it approaches the first hook and the first chorus. The rhythm pattern repeated itself for the second verse and maintained strong and upbeat until the last note. The music makes it sound good as a mood uplifter, which is exactly what it intended to be with its inspiring post-breakup lyrics (Lorde claimed that the song is about a hot mess fresh out of a relationship, who vowed to rebuild herself). In short, I really love this song, it’s catchy and uplifting; the lyrics are impactful; and Im happy that Lorde stayed true to her music style. This is a good comeback by Lorde after the lackluster ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’ 3 years ago.”