Lorde logged another appearance on a evening talk show last night, this time chopping it up with Seth Meyers on Late Night before bringing the house down with an exquisite rendition of the final track from her most recent album Melodrama, a song called “Perfect Places.” Meyers and Lorde, it turns out, actually met once before in one of the most star-studded settings imaginable: A Kanye West fashion show.
“It was like a very fancy backstage,” Lorde recalled. “Drake was back there, which always makes for a fancy room, and you and I were just like, ‘What are we doing here? We made a huge mistake.’ She also explained why she thanked the New York City subway in the liner notes to Melodrama, even though it did leave her stranded once for multiple hours. “I understand if you’ve lived here for a long time and you’ve caught the subway 5,000 times you would hate it, for me it still has a bit of romance, even though I did get stuck on the F [train] for four hours.”
As for the performance of “Perfect Places,” it manages to bridge the gap between understated and bombastic to a degree that is breathtaking. Opening with a shot of Lorde standing by herself, singing to a lone piano, the song takes off in the middle thanks to the addition of a track suit-clad choir, and then settles back down to Earth for a chilling conclusion.
You can watch Lorde’s stunning performance of “Perfect Places” above.
