Lorde Finds a Fan in Kanye West

“Royals” singer Lorde got a big endorsement recently from none other than Kanye West, the 16-year-old pop star reveals in a new interview with Rolling Stone‘s Rob Tannenbaum. Lorde met West when both were in London to perform on the talk show Later. . . With Jools Holland.

“He said he liked the messages [in my songs], which was cool,” the New Zealand native says. “I was saying to myself, ‘Keep cool. This is normal.'”

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Although West has a prickly reputation, Lorde – born Ella Yelich-O’Connor – said the superstar rapper couldn’t have been nicer. He chatted with her and genially shook hands with her keyboardist and drummer. “He’s a really mellow dude – super relaxed,” Lorde says.

Still, she didn’t press her luck: “He had this big old grill, and I wanted to touch it, but I restrained myself.”

This month, Lorde released her debut LP, Pure Heroine, and “Royals” topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Her full Q&A is in the October 24th issue of Rolling Stone.