Green Light (Lorde song)

"Green Light" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, released on 2 March 2017 as the lead single from her second studio album ''Melodrama'' (2017). It was written and produced by Lorde and Jack Antonoff, with additional writing by Joel Little and production assistance from Frank Dukes, and was released to radio stations by Universal. Musically, "Green Light" is an electropop, dance-pop, and post-disco song. The lyrics use a "green light" as a traffic light metaphor that gives Lorde permission to move on with her life after a breakup.

The song received widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom praised its production and Lorde's vocal delivery. It earned the Silver Scroll Award at the New Zealand APRA Awards and appeared on various year-end and decade-end lists. In the US, the single peaked at number 19 and received platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Green Light" also entered the top-ten on charts and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Grant Singer directed the music video for "Green Light", which shows Lorde leaving a nightclub and walking through the city streets as she tries to move on from a breakup. Photography took place primarily at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. She performed "Green Light" at ''Saturday Night Live'' and at multiple music festivals. A remix of the song by Canadian electro-funk duo Chromeo was released on 19 May 2017. Lorde included the song on the set list for the Melodrama (2017–2018) and Solar Power (2022–2023) concert tours.

Background and release

Prior to the song's release, Lorde told her followers on Twitter that "Green Light" would be "different, and ind ofunexpected. Complex and funny and sad and joyous and it'll make you ance" Her decision to create an uptempo track was influenced by how calm songs on the radio were for her musical taste. The downtempo and slow atmosphere of those songs made her want to introduce a different style of music back to the radio waves.

In an interview with Tavi Gevinson's podcast Rookie, she revealed that the song's piano part was inspired when she went to a Florence and the Machine concert with Jack Antonoff. The singer's pianist made "big, jangly" piano movements, where "the physicality of that movement ..became the way Jack played" that part in the song. Lorde also revealed that her sound-to-color synesthesia played a significant factor in the song's title, saying that a "swirling combo of high school and recent and private and public memories" helped to make the title represent a green traffic light. She announced the release of the single and its music video on Twitter on 2 March 2017.

When previewing the track for Swedish producer Max Martin, he did not think the song would become a hit. Martin had an issue with "melodic math — shortening a part." He called the lyrics "incorrect songwriting" and noted the marked key change after the piano sequences. However, Lorde later clarified in a podcast interview with ''The Spinoff'' that Martin's critiques were made in reference to her 2013 song " Royals". Realizing that top 40 songs usually have key changes reserved for amplified final choruses, Lorde herself called "Green Light" a "strange piece of music." She acknowledges the "drums o notshow up on the chorus until halfway through, which creates this other, bizarre part."

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"Green Light" was written by Lorde (credited under her birth name Ella Yelich-O'Connor), Antonoff, and Joel Little, with production handled by the former two and Frank Dukes. It was the first track Lorde wrote for ''Melodrama''. Writing took place over an 18-month period. Lorde's first heartbreak inspired the lyrics, leading reviewers to characterise them as being "downbeat" as well as having an "acceptance of longing".

Spencer Kornhaber from ''The Atlantic'' stated that Lorde was singing about the transitional phase of a breakup and obsessing over her ex "misleading" his new partner in the lyrics, "She thinks you love the beach, you’re such a damn liar". Kornhaber compared the "loop of bliss" in the last minute of the track to The Smiths song "How Soon Is Now?" (1984). ''Pretty Much Amazing'' writer Danilo Bortoli noted a change in perspective in Lorde's songwriting compared to her debut album. He also wrote that she used to portray the "role of master observer" and compared her new view to British singer Tracey Thorn.

Musically, "Green Light" was described as an electropop, dance-pop, and post-disco song. According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Green Light" is set in common time with a "driving" tempo of 129 beats per minute. The song is composed in the key of A major, with Lorde's vocals ranging between the notes of D₃ and A₄. The BBC
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