Written by: Lorde, Jack Antonoff and Joel Little
Produced by: Lorde, Jack Antonoff, Frank Dukes and Kuk Harrell
Album: Melodrama
UK release: March 2017
UK chart peak: 20

Royals may have been more of a trend-setter, but it’s Green Light that clinches the title of Actual Best Lorde Single for me (though if Supercut had ever been given a full release, it’d be a different story).

Surprising and outside-the-box without completely jettisoning the idea of a good melody and good hooks, there’s a melancholy theatricality to the lyrics and to Lorde’s vocal; while the production – which messes with unexpected chords and keeps you waiting a good while for a big payoff – manages to achieve a strange sense of angst-ridden euphoria.

It doesn’t sound like obvious Hit Single material, but for the first proper taste of a popstar’s all-important second album, it remains a bold and inspired creation.

• I’ll be writing about my favourite 100 pop songs of the decade; one a day for the last 100 days of 2019. They’re in no particular order, except the Top 10 – which will (obviously) come in late December.
• See the full list so far here.
• You can follow the rolling, daily-updated playlist below, or here.