In the late 2000s, New Zealand singer/songwriter Lorde was climbing the charts and alternately impressing and scaring fans with her dancing on stage. Her single "Royals" blew up the charts, fans became obsessed, and that one track set off a lucrative and rewarding career.
Of course, she hasn't remained in the spotlight all this time. Lorde — AKA Ella Yelich-O'Connor — even removed all her social media accounts at one point, noting that the fakeness of it all was getting to her.
Though fans went a long while without hearing anything from Lorde, it does seem that she's still hanging around the music scene. In fact, she's promised fans new tunes, even going so far as to claim she'll be releasing a new album in 2021.
So how is Lorde connected with David Bowie at all? Well, their music does share some commonalities. Lorde's specialties include electropop, indie, and "dream" pop, while Bowie ran the gamut from electronic to experimental to "glam rock" and pop.
In fact, Lorde credits Bowie as one of her earliest musical influences. She's also said that he was the direct inspiration for her second album, which she recorded after his passing and released in 2017, notes BBC.
So it's not surprising that Bowie himself recognized the connection when he and Lorde met in 2013. Lorde was 17 at the time, Billboard recalled, and Anna Wintour, of all people, approached the singer and said that David Bowie would like to meet her.
Though Lorde explained that normally, she felt disappointed after meeting her heroes, David was different. Reminiscing about their meeting in 2014, the singer exclaimed that she could "creatively die and just be happy forever" after having met her idol.
As for Bowie's interpretation of their meeting, he saw potential in the talented teenager. The Guardian reported that David Bowie once called Lorde "the future of music," explaining that Bowie's pianist had heard all about the rising star from the lead singer.
After Bowie passed away, and his family and friends were organizing a tribute, Lorde was at the top of their lists. At that year's Brit awards, Lorde took the stage to sing "Life on Mars" with the full approval of not just Bowie's son Duncan, but also his management and other family members.
The Guardian quoted David's pianist, Mike Garson, as saying that the songstress's performance was "amazing" and "momentous" and that it would have been something David himself would have loved. It was a passing of the torch in many ways, as Bowie had spoken of his full endorsement of the next generation and their musical creativity.