Lorde's heartfelt tribute got a stamp of approval from the late David Bowie's son. Photo / Getty
David Bowie's son has given Lorde's Brit Awards tribute to his dad the seal of approval.
The Kiwi artist performed a heartfelt version of Bowie's Life On Mars with the late singer's backing band at the awards ceremony in London on Wednesday night.
Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, watched it and was clearly moved by it.
It's a far cry from Jones's reaction to Lady Gaga's theatrical performance of a Bowie medley at the recent Grammy Awards.
Many took the tweet to mean he wasn't a fan of Gaga's performance.
Bowie was posthumously awarded with the Icon Award at the ceremony, which was accepted by actor Gary Oldman and presented by British singer Annie Lennox.
Oldman said during his speech in honour of his late friend that Bowie's potential was "superhuman", telling the audience Bowie faced his cancer with dignity and "customary humour".
"Even in dire circumstances when he wrote to tell me the bad news ... he said, 'The good news is I've got my cheekbones back'. He was the sweetest soul ever," Oldman said.
"You were mortal but your potential was superhuman, your remarkable music is living on."
The tribute to Bowie at the Brits was led by Lennox. The Eurythmics singer took to the stage at London's O2 Arena to salute the rocker.
"David Bowie is deeply embedded in the heart of British culture," Lennox said.
"Influencing every decade from the moment he first appeared on the airways in 1969 right up to the present day, he expanded our horizons and turned everything on its head into glorious technicolour.
"As a songwriter and a rock star there was no one and nothing else like him, he was truly unique. A quintessential visionary, shape-shifting persona, gracious and dangerous, loved and revered for as long as the earth still spins."
The 61-year-old added the Lets Dance singer had a "special kind of significance", admitting it was still hard for her to speak about him in the past tense.
Lorde and Bowie's backing band, then tackled a rendition of Life on Mars, with the performance gaining much praise on social media.
The heartfelt tribute received a standing ovation and clearly struck a chord with fans, who preferred it to Lady Gaga's tribute at the Grammys.
Her performance lacked the theatrics of Gaga's Grammys tribute, which received mixed reviews.
People on Wednesday were quick to compare the two performances, despite Gaga and Lorde performing different Bowie songs.
"@ladygaga now do you see why the real #bowie fans were so upset at your 'performance'? #BRITs2016 #lorde #classy #ladygag #trashy," said Erica Lewis on Twitter.
"Watched it for the second time and that was much better than the Grammy's tribute! Very poignant from @lorde and Bowie's band. #BRITs2016," said Sam Curtis.
Sam Fraser was overcome with emotion saying the performance was "brave, vulnerable, huge. Great performance; I got tears."
"Well don @lorde for taking on the insurmountable task of singing a Bowie song at the Brits - u made me cry X" tweeted Annie Mac.
"That was a fabulous tribute to Bowie. And that's not easy to do @lorde - you were perfect," said Nick Grimshaw.
Carly Heading simply wrote: "Omg baby @lorde That was perfection."
The Telegraph said Lorde's "simple, heartfelt performance ... blew audiences away".
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Following Bowie's death in January, Lorde paid tribute to the icon - and the influence he's had on her career - in a lengthy post on Facebook.
"I've never met a hero of mine and liked it," she wrote. "David was different ... That night something changed in me - I felt a calmness grow, a sureness. I think in those brief moments, he heralded me into my next new life, an old rock and roll alien angel in a perfect grey suit ... I realised I was proud of my spiky strangeness because he had been proud of his."
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