Listen to 12-Year-Old Lorde Sing "Use Somebody"

Back in August of 2009, Ella Yelich-O’Connor visited an Auckland radio show and belted out a Grammy Award-winning song. Not her Grammy Award-winning song. "Royals" didn't exist yet, duh-doye. She didn’t travel to the future and return to ’09 with a copy of Pure Heroine tucked under her arm and say, “Hey, Mr. DJ. Have I got a surprise for you!” and then launch into “I've never seen a diamond in the flesh," but that would've been something, eh? What actually happened: 12-year-old Lorde covered “Use Somebody”, the 2010 Record of the Year by Kings of Leon. And yes, there is a recording that's making the ol’ Interweb rounds.

Unsurprisingly, 12-year-old Lorde crushed it. Like we humble normals learned when we watched that old Battle of the Bands video that popped up on the Internet earlier this year, the singer-songwriter sounded like a seasoned pro back before she was a seasoned pro. Tween Lorde’s “Use Somebody” gives me slight Natalie Merchant vibes, and I am FEELIN’ IT.

Years before "Royals" was The Song To Cover, that title belonged to “Use Somebody”. Many a musician has tackled the hit alt-rock track. And whaddya know? 12-year-old Lorde’s rendition can hang with the best of ‘em. I'll never be one to say "HARD PASS" when given a chance to revisit covers of a popular song, so yeah, I'm totally about to dig into some choice covers of "Use Somebody" now.

Paramore

<33333 Hayley Williams's voice <33333

One Direction

KoL gets the boyband treatment.

Bat for Lashes

The indie goddess gets spooky with it.

Lorde

I mean, duh.