Twenty years after the death of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana were at long last inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But for their performance at the 2014 ceremony, surviving bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl had to scramble to find a vocalist who could fill Kurt’s boots in time for one of the most prestigious gigs of their band’s career.
Luckily, breakthrough star and genre-twisting creative Lorde had just burst onto the scene the year prior with her #1 “Royals” and debut album, “Pure Heroine.” And with her quirks stealing the media’s attention and imagination, there was hardly a better Cobain replacement to pick.
Music Man readers can watch the exact moment Lorde joined Nirvana on stage for a live performance of “All Apologies” in the viral video above—this unexpected crossover has since gone internet-viral, amassing nearly one million views across its various YouTube uploads.
At just seventeen years of age, Lorde takes to the stage with the rock gods for their show-closing number – “All Apologies” – the very last single Nirvana released, and the final album track on their final album, “In Utero.”
Lorde appears nervous at first as she emerges in a blossom pink suit, but once the janky soundscape of the Nirvana hit plays out, Lorde jumps straight into her stage character, delivering a brand new take on the song from her very first line.
First-time listeners could easily be wondering what on Earth Lorde is doing with Nirvana’s sound: her quirk-ridden vocals seem a peculiar match for the grunge song, especially compared to Kurt’s iconic original, and her take sounds far from flawless.
But this is exactly what makes Lorde’s version so great. She ditches conventional stardom, rebels against celebrity perfectionism, and exposes the beating heart of pure musical talent before the industry files down the rough edges to its own standards. She represents the same themes as Kurt Cobain during his heyday; refusing to fit the mold as she serves nothing less than true, courageous authenticity.
However, that didn’t stop fans from picking apart Lorde’s controversial performance, which divided Nirvana listeners down the middle.
A number of viewers rushed to Lorde’s defense, comparing her to “a modern Kate Bush,” noticing her nerves, pointing out that Lorde was only 17 at the time, and even commenting that “she made it sound fresh again!”
It wasn’t enough to stop her haters from criticizing the set, with some top commenters calling it “unpleasant” and “dreadful,” with another writing, “Kurt Cobain is turning in his grave.”
But some viewers had another insight. As one wrote, “She’s got a good voice but it just doesn’t work as well with this band. If she used those same vocals over a softer, different rendition of the instrumental then it probably would’ve sounded great,” another backed up the mood, commenting, “Maybe it’s this manner of performance, but I don’t understand why [the song] is not performed at full strength of her voice. It’s as if the vocalist is suppressing the strength of her voice…”