Lorde Wins Grammy For Song Inspired By Royals Player George Brett

For teen Grammy-winning artist Lorde, it all started with Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett.

Lorde’s breakout song “Royals” has been on rotation for many people over the last few months, and on Sunday night, the teen from New Zealand took home some Grammy hardware for the tune. While the lyrics of the song seem deep and introspective (she sings about never becoming “royal,” living the life of a rich and famous star), the inspiration for the song is a bit more superficial.

Lorde told VH1 last year that she was inspired by a photo of Brett in an old National Geographic magazine she’d seen. The photo of a smiling Brett surrounded by fans brandishing baseballs to be signed appeared in the July 1976 issue of NatGeo, according to Kathy Lu of The Kansas City Star. Brett’s man-of-the-people look and uniform struck a chord with the songwriter, who said, “He was a baseball player and his shirt said, ‘Royals.’ It was just that word. It’s really cool.”

The tune won the award for Song of the Year on Sunday night at the 56th Grammy Awards.

Check out the inspirational photo below.

George brett