Lorde has apologised after receiving backlash for quoting Whitney Houston lyrics besides a picture of a bathtub.
The Royals singer came under fire on Thursday (05Apr18) after posting a photo of a bath filling up with water on Instagram with the caption, "And iiii will always love you," referencing I Will Always Love You, the Dolly Parton song that Whitney had a mega hit with when she recorded it for her 1992 movie The Bodyguard.
Fans criticised Lorde for the insensitive tweet, as Whitney passed away after drowning in a bathtub at the age of 48 in 2012, with the effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use also contributing to her death. Tragically, her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was found unconscious in a bathtub in similar circumstances in January 2015 before passing away six months later.
"Lorde. Honey. This is.... really really bad," one user wrote, and another posted, "*sees how she unintentionally and remarkably coincidentally referenced Whitney Houston + daughter's death* Me: 'Oh. Wow. That's um...'"
Lorde subsequently deleted the post and issued an apology via her Instagram Stories, explaining that she didn't even make the connection when she wrote the caption.
"Extremely extremely poorly chosen quote," the 21-year-old singer wrote. "I'm so sorry for offending anyone - I hadn't even put this together I was just excited to take a bath... I'm an idiot. Love Whitney forever and ever. Sorry again."
In a second post, she wrote, "IT IS NOT MY FKN DAY TODAY (sic)," with crying and hand over mouth emojis.
Some fans came to her defence, with one writing, "Lorde was just excited to take a bath because she had a day off and didn’t think the post through. Girl I feel you and I know your heart & intentions," while another added: "It was a poor choice of words and coincidence. Im sure lorde regrets it theres not a singer out there that dont look up to whitney (sic)."
