Lorde Ditches the Glitz in ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’ Video

Lorde only wants to be the life of her own party in the new video for “Yellow Flicker Beat,” her Katniss Everdeen-inspired contribution to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 soundtrack, which she also curated.

While the video has little to do with the The Hunger Games itself, it does capture the alienation and defiance that fuels Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence). The clip opens with Lorde singing in a handful of different locales: A seedy motel room where her hair’s done up in a massive pompadour; a lonesome, dimly lit kitchen; and finally, an empty roadway, which Lorde proceeds to skittishly dance down when the song’s first chorus bursts open. Save for some pondering by a pool, Lorde dances on her own throughout the rest of the video, smiling dutifully for a glitzy crowd before dropping off the map to finish doing her own thing.

Lorde initially shared “Yellow Flicker Beat” back in September, and described the track in a note on her Tumblr as, “my attempt at getting inside [Katniss’] head.” The singer appears on three more Mockingjay tracks, noting that she composed these songs and fine-tuned the LP on her tour bus after shows: “…I set up in this little bed office. I work from midnight until late on the soundtrack, singing into my computer, listening to demos and final mixes.”

The Mockingjay soundtrack boasts a number of artists from a wide array of genres, including Kanye West, who provided a reworking of “Yellow Flicker Beat.” Lorde also collaborated with Pusha T, Q-Tip and Haim on Stromae’s “Meltdown,” while the soundtrack also features contributions from Major Lazer and Ariana Grande, Grace Jones, Tove Lo, Bat for Lashes, CHVRCHES, Charli XCX and the Chemical Brothers and Miguel.

The Mockingjay soundtrack sees release on November 17th via Republic Records, while the film itself will open in theaters on November 21st.