Playlist: October 2014

"Yellow Flicker Beat"

Lorde

Last year was arguably the year of Lorde after the spontaneous success of "Royals" and "Team" from her debut album, Pure Heroine. Although she's just a few months shy of 18 years old, Lorde was thrown into an expected position this year: the lead curator of the soundtrack to the highly-anticipated film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. (She has already appeared on the soundtrack to the previous movie in the series, covering "Everybody Wants to Rule the World.") She has also been graced with the honor of penning and recording the lead single to the soundtrack, "Yellow Flicker Beat." The song's lyrics are written in the mindset of Katniss Everdeen and sonically combines elements of Lorde's original drumbeat-heavy sound while also providing a lush, expansive chorus. The soundtrack is set to drop on November 18, just days ahead of the movie.

"Go"

Grimes feat. Blood Diamonds

Hated by pretentious hipsters that only like to listen to white noise and guitar strums but loved by everyone else, "Go" is Grimes' movement from obscure synthpop to a killer mixture of electronic dance and synthpop. The track was originally written with Rihanna in mind, so it's obviously a step into a more mainstream realm. However, the step to that sound definitely isn't the wrong direction for Grimes to go.

"Booty"

Jennifer Lopez feat. Iggy Azalea

When a new album fails, it's time to turn to controversy for success. Following this formula, Jennifer Lopez has now called in the help of the voice of this summer, Iggy Azalea, for a music video that one-ups Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" clip. The two divas wet down their hind-ends and proudly exclaim their pride for their luscious glutei maximi (looking up the plural form of "gluteus maximus" was really awkward, by the way.) The song is great urban bop with or without the video, so be sure to check it out soon.

"My Song 5"

Haim feat. A$AP Ferg

Although I've known and loved "My Song 5" since the release of Days Are Gone, it was finally dropped as a single back in August. I can't get over the genius video, which channels a fictitious show similar to Maury or The Jerry Springer Show and is star-studded with cameos from Saturday Night Live's brilliant Vanessa Bayer to the feline-friendly Kesha (formerly Ke$ha). I have to admit that the additional verse from A$AP Ferg seemed like a strange combination, but he made for another good cameo in the video. The song itself is a grungy, gritty ode to revenge, which opposes most of the summery, light-guitar fueled tracks on the album.

"Chasing Time"

Azealia Banks

After over two years of delays and disappointments, the contents of Azealia Banks' musical pipeline are starting to flow again. At the end of July, "Heavy Metal and Reflective" was dropped through Banks independently after her split from recording industry giants Interscope Records and Polydor Records. Last month, "Chasing Time" was leaked by a mysterious pop music website, forcing Banks to rush-release the song through YouTube and SoundCloud. Although we have heard the song through low-quality recordings of recent live performances, those videos don't do justice the studio version. This banger of a track is perhaps the most infectious Azealia Banks bop since "212" and when paired with "Heavy Metal & Reflective," it is clear that the (still) upcoming Broke with Expensive Taste will be a force to be reckoned with... whenever it finally surfaces.