"Meltdown" is a song from the soundtrack album The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, featuring artists Stromae, Q-Tip, Lorde, Haim, and Pusha T. It is the first track on the album to feature Lorde, following her appearances on "Yellow Flicker Beat", "This Is Not a Game", and "Ladder Song".
"Meltdown" uses the instrumentation of "Merci", taken from Stromae's second studio album Racine carrée (2013), which was produced by the lead artist, Thomas Azier and Aron Ottingnon. It was well received by music critics and charted at the top spot in several of Stromae's native charts.
Background[]
"Meltdown" was written by Stromae, Lorde (credited under her birth-name Ella Yelich-O'Connor), Joel Little, Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, Terrence Thornton, and Este Haim, Danielle Haim and Alana Haim from the indie rock band Haim. It was released on November 17, 2014 as the opening track for the soundtrack album of the 2014 motion picture The Hu nger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1.[1] The song was taken from "Merci", an instrumental track from Stromae's second studio album Racine carrée (2013).[2]
Stromae explained how the song came about:
"She [Lorde] called my manager to get a track (for the Hunger Games: Mockingjay soundtrack). It’s a track from my album, called "Merci," and she decided to do a new track with it. I was touched by the way it was important for her to have my opinion, even with the people she wanted to invite on the track, like Pusha T and HAIM. I met her after the track was done, and she was just human, simple and really nice!"
Composition[]
Melissa Locker from Time described "Meltdown" as a "dark synth dance track" and "an '80s-influenced kinetic earworm",[3] while NME called it a "bombastic electro stomp".[4] Exclaim described "Meltdown" as having a "propulsive pulse that spans hip-hop and pop" and Complex characterized it as a "piano-laced, drum pounding production" track.[5] Stromae explained that the song came together after Lorde called his manager to "get a track (for the Hunger Games: Mockingjay soundtrack)". Although the song was from Stromae's album Racine carrée, Lorde "decided to do a new track with it". Stromae said he was touched with how important it was for her to have his opinion, even with invited guests on the track. He described Lorde as being "human, simple and really nice".[6] At one point in the song, Pusha T calls out the film's "image-obsessed bourgeoisie of the Capitol" which Billboard described as "language that would be just as appropriate for real-life society". In his verse, he sings:
We're all tryna be somebody else
You can't hide your tears in wealth
When your heart knows you hate yourself[7]
Lyrics[]
[Intro: Pusha T]
Lorde, meet King Push
[Verse 1: Pusha T]
Life is like a costume party
Just cover the floors in Cavalli
Let's hide the hurt in a molly
We're all tryna be somebody else
You can't hide your tears in wealth
When your heart knows you hate yourself
It's all pain we felt
Just the way that the card's been dealt
[Refrain: Lorde]
Velvet rope, let us pass
Drop an olive in your glass
Put it on, a disguise
It's an opera of lies
Everyone on the run
Fifty feet all on the gas
Take him out, take him out
Gonna take him out, woah
[Pre-Chorus: Lorde]
We're the only theory they can't prove
And we don't have anything to lose
[Chorus: Lorde]
In my eyes, in my ears bring might
Love is only figured once in life
Tell the crowd, search the town
And we made it all melt down
It's a full meltdown
[Verse 2: Q-Tip]
Try to break her spirit so it shouldn't be surprisin'
We're here with no fear and gave her uprising
Gonna blend in with the bullies and the bureaucrats
Arrows pierce like lightning, choppers sound like thunder clap
Never will you stand, we gon' lay you down
Debonair and dapper kids comin' in to take the town
Try to restrain us, even though you trained us
We're better than you are, now we're gonna make you famous
[Refrain: Lorde]
Velvet rope, let us pass
Drop an olive in your glass
Put it on, a disguise
It's an opera of lies
Everyone on the run
Fifty feet all on the gas
Take him out, take him out
Gonna take him out, woah
[Bridge: Pusha T & Lorde]
We're all lookin' for status
Cristal sent over on gratis
Can't pretend we're not plastic
When these poker faces take practice
Who to trust? Who to love?
Who to run from? Who to hug?
Set fire to a government of thugs
Respect only comes from the money or your blood
We're out of sight, shadows of light
They're closing in and I know where we're goin'
But I don't know who I'll be
[Chorus: Lorde]
In my eyes, in my ears bring might
Love is only figured once in life
Tell the crowd, search the town
And we made it all melt down
It's a full meltdown
In my eyes, in my ears bring might
Love is only figured once in life
Tell the crowd, search the town
And we made it all melt down
It's a full meltdown
[Outro: Haim]
(I can hear, and see a ghost)
Was it meant to be?
(In my mind, I know)
'Cause I can't see
(And if you keep acting up)
I can't see
(I'm your undertow)
(I can hear, and see a ghost)
Was it meant to be?
(In my mind, I know)
I can't see
(And if you keep acting up)
References[]
- ↑ https://www.lefigaro.fr/musique/2014/11/13/03006-20141113ARTFIG00413--hunger-games-3-lorde-devoile-meltdown-sa-collaboration-avec-stromae.php
- ↑ https://www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/a/constant-gardner/stromae-ft-lorde-pusha-t-q-tip-haim-meltdown
- ↑ http://www.nme.com/reviews/various-artists/15807
- ↑ https://time.com/3584150/hunger-games-mockingjay-meltdown-stromae-lorde-pusha-t-q-tip-haim/
- ↑ https://exclaim.ca/music/article/stromae-meltdown_ft_lorde_pusha_t_q-tip_haim
- ↑ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/31/who-the-hell-is-kanye-s-newest-collab.html
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/reviews/album-review-lorde-hunger-games-mockingjay-soundtrack-6319947/