Last night at the Issac Theatre Royal, Lorde once again proved that she can transform any song into her own. The New Zealand Native stopped by the local Christchurch arena on last night on November 8th, to perform many of her new songs from Melodrama, some older hits off of Pure Heroine and a “science experiment” of a cover. In the past Lorde has experimented with hits from Paul Simon and Martha Wainwright, but last night she chose a sweet ballad, “I’m On Fire,” from Bruce Springsteen’s legendary 1984 album, Born In the U.S.A. 

The original song has has a sweet and steady country-inspired brush backbeat, and sweet melodic guitar licks. Lorde keeps things simple with her emotive vocals and a backing guitarist. According to Paste Magazine, the singer then transitioned into her lesser known song, “400 Lux,” at the 2:30 minute mark. The seamless transition highlighted her electronic song in a completely new way. The stripped down version is raw unlike the original, which is much more upbeat and elusive.

In the past, the song has been covered by a wide array of talented artists. Johnny Cash, Kenny Chesney, Waylon Jennings, Shakey Graves, Bat for Lashes, Awolnation and John Mayer have all included their own takes on the song on various albums. In addition, Tori Amos, Ben Harper, Jennifer Nettles, Tegan and Sara, Sara Bareilles, Mumford and Sons and Barry Gibb (The Bee Gees) have all covered the song in live performances. Lorde gives a completely unique take on the song though. She infuses it with her own unique sensibility. As she mentions, the song is clearly “a special one.”

Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna