Claim: Yellow Flicker Beat is a musical work.

`` Yellow Flicker Beat '' is a song by New Zealand singer Lorde . Written by Lorde and Joel Little and produced by Little and Paul Epworth , the song was released on 29 September 2014 as the lead single from the soundtrack for The Hunger Games : Mockingjay -- Part 1 by Republic Records . `` Yellow Flicker Beat '' , which features an electronic production , is characterised as an art pop and electropop song . Its style was compared to that of Lorde 's earlier releases such as her song `` Biting Down '' from The Love Club EP -LRB- 2013 -RRB- and her debut studio album , Pure Heroine -LRB- 2013 -RRB- . The lyrics of the track refer to the rise of The Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen .   The track was well received by music critics , who praised its lyrical content for being more mature than that of Lorde 's previous releases . Commercially , `` Yellow Flicker Beat '' peaked at number thirty-four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and entered the record charts of several nations , including Australia , Canada and New Zealand . A music video for the song was directed by Emily Kai Bock and was released on 7 November 2014 . Four days later , the makeover of the song titled `` Flicker -LRB- Kanye West Rework -RRB- '' co-produced by Lorde and Kanye West was released . Lorde performed the song at the 2014 American Music Awards on 23 November 2014 . The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards , and Best Song at the 20th Critics ' Choice Awards .