Lorde's song entitled Yellow Flicker Beat advanced at number 17 and has reached the top female artist launch on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart since the year 1995.
In March 1995, Juliana Hatfield's Universal Heart-Beat began in number 17 on Alternative songs. In February 1995, P.J. Harvey's Down by the Water started at number 15. After nineteen years, Lorde followed at that number on its entry.
This single is a song from the movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 soundtrack. The song also went up to number 19 at Adult Alternative Songs and number 15 subsequently in the Rock Airplay chart. With the latter chart which format is all-rock, the track racked in 5.2 million in first week.
Lorde, born Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O' Connor is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. She was known worldwide for her debut single Royals in 2013. The song peaked at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 and became an international hit. That year, she also released her debut studio album, Pure Heroine. Lorde's record flew up the charts of Australia and New Zealand and came at number three on the US Billboard 200. The album's singles include the songs Team, No Better, Glory and Gore, and Tennis Court.
The seventeen-year-old singer continues to bring variety to the traditionally male-dominated format. Last year, her song Royals peaked at number 1 in Alternative Songs. Team made number two in February.
Overall, Lorde's record sold 1.4 million copies in the United States.
According to Jeff Regan who is the program director of Sirius XM's Alt Nation, "I love that, this time, her being a woman is not the focus." He added regarding the song Yellow Flicker, "It's a very good song. The writing is genuine. There's depth to the lyrics and phrasing." In the week ending October 5, the song already had 46 plays. "It's not sappy pop, but it's also not too dark to be off-putting. I'm also beyond psyched that she worked with Paul Epworth [Adele, Florence + the Machine, Bruno Mars] on it."
The worldwide anticipation for the movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 which will be released in theaters on November 21 makes the song more at heart. Per Regan, "It makes it very interesting for us to present, since it's likely going to be one of the biggest movies and soundtracks this year. [The soundtrack] is also kind of her next album. She wants to be a true artist, not just a song-by-song pop act." He added, "That's nice to say when you're winning Grammys, but tougher when it's time to deliver. But, I think she's done that."
