Last week, Lady Gaga paid tribute to David Bowie at the Grammys. The performance was a scattershot mess of a thing, with Gaga doing her craziest Bowie impression in Ziggy-dyed hair. On Wednesday the Brit Awards and Lorde also paid tribute to Bowie, and it was much better — and classier — than anything seen at the Grammys.
Lorde, who took to Facebook after Bowie’s death to issue a lengthy, heartfelt letter, was not decked out in a bedazzled jumpsuit. Instead, she was dressed in plain clothes, joining a live band halfway through their medley tribute in order to sing “Life on Mars.”
The performance is not a technical showcase from Lorde, whose 19-year-old voice doesn’t have the showboating range of Gaga’s, but it was filled with something else: emotion. While Gaga chose to play up the obvious camp of Bowie’s shape-shifting aesthetic, the Brit Awards and Lorde chose instead to focus on the the strength of his songwriting.
Watch the performance below.