Keeping true to a promise she made last September, Lorde will finally give her critically acclaimed song “Tennis Court” its “time in the sun.”
Label Republic Records confirmed that the song, as per its original plan, will this week impact Top 40 radio as the third pop single from the singer-songwriter’s platinum-selling “Pure Heroine.”
Initially pegged as the follow-up to “Team,” “Tennis Court” was put on standby when inclusion in the Winter Olympics broadcast and a high-profile campaign for the “Vikings” television show gave fellow “Pure Heroine” track “Glory and Gore” a prominent position on the pop culture radar (and on the iTunes Single Sales chart).
In the wake of that eruption of interest, Republic announced that “Glory and Gore”–not “Tennis Court”–would be the next Lorde song shipped to alternative and pop radio.
Indeed, “Glory and Gore” was issued to alternative radio earlier this spring. Not the instant, smash hit many expected given the song’s buzz and Lorde’s credibility, the song is nonetheless steadily rising at the format. According to Mediabase, it was alt radio’s 14th-most-played song for the seven days ending April 20.
Presumably due to some combination of the song’s overall tone, its slow growth at alternative and the expiration of its Winter Olympics buzz, Republic will not, however, position “Glory and Gore” as the artist’s next pop single. It will instead return to its original plan and present “Tennis Court” as Lorde’s latest Top 40 representative.
First released on iTunes months in advance of “Pure Heroine”–and before “Royals” began its nine-week reign atop the Billboard Hot 100–“Tennis Court” has already garnered 350,000 paid downloads. Its video (below) has meanwhile attracted more than 35 million views on YouTube.