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Watch Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic Take an Accordion to Lorde’s ‘Royals’

Krist Novoselic Lorde Royals Accordion

Everybody’s covering Lorde this year. Bruce Springsteen recently delivered a driving, acoustic version of “Royals” in her home country of New Zealand, then CHVRCHES took a synth spin on “Team” for the BBC. The most recent, and by far the most unusual, comes from Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, whose version of “Royals” is (drumroll) a chilled-out instrumental showcasing his accordion skills. That cover happened on Sunday, March 9, at a FairVote benefit in Takoma Park, Maryland. Part of the fun is hearing the fans start murmuring as they realize just what it is they’re hearing, while Novoselic looks to be engrossed by the music.

Lorde in no slouch when it comes to covering other artists, either. In her young career, the Pure Heroine heroine has turned heads with her takes on the Replacements’ “Swingin’ Party,” Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” James Blake’s “Retrograde,” Kanye West’s “Hold My Liquor,” and, when she was even younger, Ronnie James Dio’s “Man on the Silver Mountain.” Then there was her cover of Son Lux’s “Easy,” which led to her and the New York artist collaborating on a new version of the song with the added title “(Switch Screens).” Now we’ll wait and see if she decides to return a favor to CHVRCHES, Nirvana, or Bruce.