Lorde - Green Light

I have welcomed Lorde back with open arms. I recently listened to a lot of crap on Top 40 radio again, to torture myself basically, and I found myself thinking - maybe because I'm soon leaving my 20s and my tolerance for bubblegum crap has expired? - "God, pop music sucks these days." 

And in that moment, I am my parents. Where's my Anne Murray at!

But, God listened to me, and gave me a new song by Lorde less than 24 hours later. Is 2017 not shaping up to be an awesome year for music?! I am DELIGHTED. Ryan Adams, Jens Lekman, Lana Del God, and now Lorde. Not that I'm the biggest Lorde fan, but she's such a much-needed relief right now (Taylor Swift must be in hiding for the foreseeable future). At least Lorde has *real* talent and is willing to do things somewhat differently. 

So what's "Green Light" like? There's a ton of hype behind it. And for the most part, it is deserved hype.

The song starts off kind of awkwardly, but half-way through this song - boom! - she soars to new heights. It becomes anthemic. All of Lorde's best songs are anthemic, IMO.

See below:

The best comparison I have to "Green Light" is that I think Lorde was listening to a lot of Carly Rae Jepsen when she recorded this. It's much more "Run Away With Me" than "1989," even though Taylor and Lorde both recorded their albums in Lena Dunham's family room (???). 

In short, this song delivers in its second act - Lorde explores her vocal chops a bit more willingly here, and there's this contagious enthusiasm toward the end that shows the promise that, maybe, 2017 will prove to be her year.

A throwback to Lorde's duet with Disclosure from 2015, which is "fire" as the kids say.