It came out of nowhere, but her meg hit "Royals" didn't just burst out of thin air. Since age 10 or 11, Lorde has been writing songs, consuming Raymond Carver and Kurt Vonnegut novels, and diarizing her thoughts, which she would draw upon a few years later when she started really working on music.

Now Lorde has gone on to international fame, filling theaters with fans young and old eager to hear her small cache of songs (and great covers of Kanye and The Replacements). She's also been nominated for four GRAMMYs, including Song of The Year, Record of the Year and Pop Solo Performance of the Year. It's her who's the diamond in the flesh.

"More than anything it's just a really nice gesture," Lorde told Radio.com of the nominations. "Like I feel kind of welcomed in some way, which is really cool."

As with most pop stars fresh to the game, with newfound fame comes the newfound narrative. In addition to the New Zealand export earning the title of youngest artist to top the Hot 100 since Tiffany in 1987, there's the "Lorde is the anti-Miley" tagline. Juxtaposing two kinds of pop stars in this culture often leads to one being more "real" than the other. Just like it was with Avril v. Britney almost ten years ago, there's always going to be people telling you what you should be. It's part of entering the celebrity machine, which Lorde — born Ella Yelich-O'Connor — plans to avoid.