Lorde’s hit Royals banned by San Francisco radio stations during World Series
Lorde, the 17-year-old New Zealand singer, has become an unlikely pawn in the World Series rivalry between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants.
Two radio stations in San Francisco have banned Lorde’s 2013 hit Royals from their airwaves until the Major League Baseball series is over — or until “the San Francisco Giants win the World Series” says the website for the city’s KOIT, 96.5 FM.
“Our listeners told us to do it, so we did it,” the station’s program director, Brian Figula, declared in a statement.
KOIT’s sister station, Kansas City’s KZPT has responded to the ban with a vow to “pump Royals into the highest rotation.”
That means playing it on the hour, every hour, between 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday — the opening night of the World Series.
“We won’t let their anti-Royals spirit ruin this moment,” said Tony Lorino, the station’s program director in a statement. “A few angry San Franciscans who don’t have a song called Giants won’t rain on our parade.”
Lorde’s Royals catapulted the young artist into international pop stardom in 2013, and earned her a Grammy.
While the song’s lyrics lambasting fame and wealth don’t sound very sporty, Lorde herself has admitted that the tune is indeed inspired by the Kansas City Royals — or, at the very least, the cover of the July 1976 issue of National Geographic magazine.
“I had this image from the National Geographic of this dude just signing baseballs,” Lorde said in a 2013 interview with VH1.
That dude was star third baseman George Brett.
“His shirt said, ‘Royals'”, she said. “It was just that word. It’s really cool.”
Lorde, whose real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, hasn’t commented on the radio station rivalry.
The San Francisco Giants take on the Kansas City Royals when the series starts Tuesday night in Kansas City, Mo.