Lorde has described meeting David Bowie as "an angel coming down"

She told the Evening Standard newspaper: "I never tell anyone about it because it’s so private for me.

"But it was like an angel coming down."

Back in 2013 - the year she released both her debut album 'Pure Heroine'

and hit single 'Royals' - Bowie had hailed her as "the future of music", and she is able to reflect positively on the response to her first record.

She said: "I think it was exactly what you would make if you were consuming every single bit of pop culture at that time...

"The way I always thought about it was, I’m trying to talk to people in the way that my friends and I want to be talked to, you know? I’m just making the thing that I think should exist."

As well as Bowie, the 25-year-old star has met plenty of other idols over the years, including recent fellow Rolling Stone cover star David Byrne, and Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks.

On the latter, she said: "She was so kind to me and actually I wrote a note to myself: 'Stevie believes in me.'

"I have that in my house because, like, that’s a really amazing thing to remind yourself of when you are feeling unsure."

And she noted how her own tastes have evolved over the years, with her latest album 'Solar Power' boasting a more acoustic-heavy sound.

Reflecting on ‘Love… Thy Will be Done’ - which was written by Prince for Martika in 1991 - she explained: "When I was 16 I was like: 'I can’t hear this!' It seemed like a boring song to me.

"Now that song is like, bang! It has so much complexity, feeling and I just find it to be such a beautiful piece of music."