When Lorde isn’t busy standing up to online bullies like Diplo, who recently made a Twitter dig at her bestie Taylor Swift, then she’s continuing to release new songs off the upcoming soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
The latest tune off the soundtrack is the New Zealand artist’s cover of Bright Eyes’ “Ladder Song,” which originally appeared on the band’s 2011 album, The People’s Key. Lorde had a great musical canvas to work with—seeing that the song is just vocals and piano—but instead of layering beats and bass over an already haunting ode, she approaches it with unwavering respect for its existing simplicity.
On the original, Conor Oberst’s voice is sparse and fragile; however, in the reworked version, Lorde brings a certain power that somehow manages to be forceful and delicate at the same time. The piano has been upgraded to an organ emulating synth, but that just adds to the cover’s potency.
For those interested in hearing the original version, check out the clip below. It’s not an official video, but it’s still pretty cool.
We know it feels like we’ve been talking about Mockingjay – Part 1 soundtrack for years, but there are only three days left until November 17 and the album FINALLY gets released. Have you pre-ordered your copy yet?
In case you need more convincing, check out more songs off the album that are kid tested, Nerdist approved:
“Flicker (Kanye West Rework)” by Lorde
“Yellow Flicker Beat” by Lorde
[H/T: The Windish Agency]
I don’t think it was her that changed the lyrics. Some of them were probably changer for “PR” reasons, for the movie.
“I wanna fly in your silver ship; let jesus hang and buddha sit…” (she changed the most profound lyric in this song, and because of it, lost a lot of the depth of that track itself. too bad, this is one of my favorite bright eyes songs.
What was wrong with the original lyrics? She changed some of the best lines.