You Never Knew What These Misunderstood Songs Were Really About

‘Royals’ – Lorde

To the naked ear, Lorde’s 2013 hit “Royals” sounds like it’s referring to either real life royalty (think the British Royal family) or American “celeb-royalty” like the Kardashian family. However, the song’s name and inspiration came from a different source.

The singer based the lyrics on a 1976 photo of Kansas City Royals hall of fame baseball player George Brett signing autographs while in uniform, with the team’s name splashed across his chest. The singer explained simply, “It was just that word. It’s really cool.”