Radio Station Bans Lorde's 'Royals': San Francisco's KFOG Won't Play Pop Hit During World Series

At first glance this certainly seems like a publicity stunt by KFOG, and overtly superstitious. But the 17-year-old Lorde, real name Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, said in 2013 that “Royals” was in fact partially inspired by the team.

“I had this image from the National Geographic of this dude just signing baseballs,” Lorde said, according to Yahoo!Sports. “He was a baseball player and his shirt said, ‘Royals.’" Lorde was so taken by the image and the word that she penned the song around that idea. "It was just that word. It’s really cool."

Later Yahoo determined that the Royal in the picture was Hall of Famer George Brett, who led the team to their last and only World Series title in 1985. Some have also speculated that ever since Lorde dropped “Royals” in the U.S. in August of last year, it's directly correlated with the Royals success in the last 15 months.

According to Stuff, the Royals even presented Lorde with a throwback Brett jersey in March, and after they swept the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series the song blasted throughout Kaufman Stadium. Stuff also reported that some are hoping Lorde sings the National Anthem and during the seventh-inning stretch of every World Series game.