David Bowie dubbed Lorde the 'future of music'

David Bowie considered teenage pop star Lorde the "future of music", according to the rocker's longtime pianist.

The Royals star earned praise for her tribute to the late icon at last month's (Feb16) BRIT Awards, where she took the stage to cover his track Life on Mars?.

She was joined by Bowie's touring band, which included the legend's longtime collaborator Mike Garson, who recently revealed in a question-and-answer session on live video app Periscope that Bowie adored the 19-year-old New Zealand native.

"David really liked Lorde, and he felt like she was the future of music, and they had a few wonderful moments together," Garson said in the video. "She was the perfect choice (for the BRITs tribute). Some of David's family members and David's management had some suggestions she'd be the right one. They wanted to bring the next generation in. It was an amazing, momentous experience, and she really did justice to him."

Garson added that Lorde was especially frightened of the performance because she wanted to honour Bowie in the right way.

He said, "She was so nervous. She actually said if she didn't sing the song to David, she couldn't have gotten through it."

Lorde previously admitted she felt out of her comfort zone during the performance, but it took reminding herself that the tribute was all for Bowie to get her through.

"Such an honour getting to perform #BRITs2016 paying tribute to my hero," Lorde 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."

Lorde's cover was even well-received by Bowie's son Duncan Jones, who praised the set, tweeting, "Finally found the links to tonight's Brits. Just... beautiful. Thank you."