Lorde has been sprinkling covers into the sets of her Solar Power tour, and kept the tradition going at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival Saturday night by debuting a cover of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer.” The pop star’s rendition of the 1983 hit was pretty true to the original, with the addition of some pretty sweet dance moves.
This cover is one of many Lorde has treated fans to in the past few months, including “Run Away With Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen, “The End Has No End” by the Strokes and “HENTAI” by Rosalía.
SPIN was in attendance during Primavera Sound’s first weekend. See our coverage here and watch fan-shot footage of Lorde’s Bananarama cover below.
? Lorde’s cover of “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama.
— Lorde Updates (@LordeUpdatesBR) June 10, 2022
Solar Power is much more mellow and subdued than Lorde’s previous work. During a show in London last week, the singer reflected on why she decided to change lanes for this album and what fans can expect in the future.
“It’s so interesting to me how writing a big, bright pop song has been the thing that’s defined my life,” she said. “This thing I started trying to do when I was 14 years old because I would turn on the radio and love that feeling, what it did to me. It became like an addiction, I just wanted to keep trying to construct the perfect thing that would hit you in the heart emotionally, over three-and-a-half minutes.”
“We’ve had a really difficult, painful, lonely few years and artists take that, and they process it and they make something that’s maybe quieter, or more private,” Lorde added. “But the banger will always be on the horizon.”
