2016 Brit Awards: Watch Lorde perform David Bowie song 'Life on Mars?' in 'best tribute so far' to late icon

Bowie's son Duncan Jones seemed to prefer the 19-year-olds performance to Lady Gaga's at the Grammys

After a night of Adele, the Brits took the time to honour the late icon, David Bowie, with actor Gary Oldman giving a wonderful speech about his longtime friend, followed by a surprise performance from Lorde.

Backed by Bowie’s touring band, the 19-year-old belted out the late singer’s hit “Life on Mars”, the stage covered in red light as the celebrity-filled audience watched on.

At the end of the performance, the stage was once again lit up, with Bowie’s face adorning the huge screen in the background. Watch in full below.

Recently, Lady Gaga also paid tribute to the Starman, performing a montage of his greatest hits at the Grammys and later calling her “whole life a tribute to Bowie”.

After Gaga’s performance, director Duncan Jones - Bowie’s son - sent out a cryptic Tweet, seemingly unimpressed by what he saw.

It read: "Overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused." Damn it! What IS that word!?” The word, according to the Oxford dictionary, is Gaga.

However, after Lorde’s Brit tribute, Jones seemed a little more impressed, Tweeting: “Finally found the links to tonight's Brits. Just... beautiful. Thank you.”

Viewers were just as impressed with the performance, if not more so.

Lorde's Brit performance was introduced by Gary Oldman, who gave an emotional tribute to the late singer. Read it in full here.

Rihanna, Adele and Justin Bieber also performed at the Brits. At the ceremony, the 25 singer took home four awards, while Catfish and the Bottleman, Coldplay, Justin Bieber and Tame Impala took home one apiece.

Click here to take the David Bowie trivia quiz