Lorde 'so nervous' ahead of Bowie tribute

Pop star Lorde has confessed she was a bag of nerves before she stepped onstage to honour David Bowie with a tribute at the 2016 BRIT Awards on Wednesday night (24Feb16).

The late rock icon, who passed away in January (16), was honoured at the London music ceremony with speeches by Eurythmics star Annie Lennox and actor Gary Oldman before David's backing band performed a medley of his hits including Space Oddity, Let's Dance, Ashes To Ashes, Rebel Rebel, and Fame.

Lorde, who had not been announced ahead of the show, then walked onstage to sing his track Life on Mars?, and she has now confessed she was terrified in the moments before her appearance, but thinking of David helped her push her nerves aside.

"Such an honour getting to perform #BRITs2016 paying tribute to my hero," she wrote on Twitter.com. "I was so nervous in the wings, and then i whispered to myself 'just sing it to david", and nothing else mattered."

She also shared pictures from the tribute and a tweet from David's son Duncan Jones, who praised the performance, writing, "Finally found the links to tonight's Brits. Just... beautiful. Thank you."

Lorde's tribute comes less than two weeks after Lady Gaga's performance of the rocker's songs at the Grammy Awards. Jones appeared to disapprove of her segment at the time, and he wrote, "Overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused." Damn it! What IS that word!?" It seemed he was describing the definition of "gaga".

Duncan was not the only one to praise Lorde's performance. Actor Colin Hanks wrote on Twitter.com, "Right when I think the plot has been lost, @lorde reminds me it's not and that its gonna (be) ok. I take enormous comfort in that."

Lily Allen added, "Lorde for the win" and British pop star-turned-TV personality Myleene Klass posted, "Well @lorde was beyond brilliant there #brits".