Lorde was overcome with emotion after watching rock icon Bruce Springsteen cover her hit song Royals during a recent concert in her New Zealand hometown.

The Born to Run hitmaker delighted the audience at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland last Saturday (01Mar14), when he played an acoustic version of her Grammy-winning song.

And the 17-year-old singer, who is in the middle of her North American tour, tells News.com.au that she was stunned to learn of the rock legend 's tribute.

She explains, "My Twitter went mental. Everyone in New Zealand was like 'You can't believe what just happened!' It was so exciting. It was the highest honor. He's such an incredible songwriter. I got a little teary. It was very cool."

Lorde adds, "It's crazy when someone like that is covering your song. Those words were nothing before I put them into my laptop and started messing around with them in the studio. It's crazy to me they could come out of someone's mouth who is that respected."