Lorde’s “Team”: Hear The Triumphant New Single

“I’m kinda over being told to thrown my hands up in the air — so there,” New Zealand native Lorde sings on her excellent new single “Team,” which received its radio premiere earlier today. It’s a line that positions her exactly where she should be: An apathetic dissenter, resistant to the status quo but also not fired up enough to do much about it.

“Team” serves as a continuation of the themes she explored on lead single “Royals” and then “Tennis Court,” where she tackled the absurdity of aspirationalism with a litheness that makes it still so baffling that she’s sixteen years old, but “Team” — the next track to be serviced to radio, as “Royals” continues to make astonishing waves on the American charts — is sweeter and brighter than its predecessors.

The melodies swoop and soar; an extra-kicky snare livening up the production; if it’s not as immediately catchy as “Royals,” it feels like a more fully realized pop songs, not just a brilliant sketch. By the time the chorus drops, with that irresistible “We’re on each other’s team” hook, it doesn’t just work perfectly — it actually sounds like another radio hit.

Listen below.

Lorde — “Team”