NEW YORK: Lorde’s smash hit “Royals” is suddenly taking on a renewed significance — and, to one set of sports fans, unwelcome — as the Kansas City Royals head to baseball’s World Series.

A radio station in San Francisco, whose home team the Giants will vie against the Royals in the championship, said it would temporarily ban the New Zealand teenager’s “Royals” from its playlist.

“No offense, Lorde, but for the duration of the World Series, KFOG Radio will be a ‘Royals’-free zone. We’re sure you understand,” the station said on Facebook and Twitter.

Kansas City fans promptly turned to the station’s website and put in requests for “Royals,” which won the Grammy in January for best song.

The lyrics to “Royals” take aim at ostentatious wealth. Lorde has said that there was in fact a connection to the Kansas City Royals, telling VH1 in an interview last year that she was inspired by a 1976 National Geographic picture of the Royals’ George Brett signing baseballs.