2014 Grammys: Lorde has lip-sync snafu during ‘Royals’ performance

Well, it did not take very long at all for the 2014 Grammys to have their first big “oops” moment. During the second performance of the night, Lorde was taught a very unfortunate lesson of performing on live TV: Make sure you know when to raise your microphone up to your lips.

During her performance of her smash hit “Royals” during the show, there was a moment where the music cut off, and Lorde forgot to raise up her microphone until after the backing track started to play. She missed a few words, but then continued onward with the song as though nothing ever happened (which really is the only thing that you can do in that situation).

We will start off by saying this: It would be terribly unfair to blast Lorde for this and not anyone else, given that the majority of pop singers these days do have some sort of backing track. We do think that she was still singing live, but layering her voice in with the track is what gives it that unique sound. It is like messing up a magic trick in many ways; everyone knows that there is some element of it behind the scenes that you are not intended to see, and the last thing that you want to do is make that obvious for the people viewing at home.

Lorde could still end up having a great night despite this mistake, largely because she has multiple nominations thanks to “Royals,” in addition to the opportunity to just hob-knob with some of the biggest stars in the business.

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Photo: CBS