YouTubeIt's no surprise that Lorde is a very gifted teenager, and now there's further proof that the New Zealand native was born for the spotlight
A flashback video of the young "Royals" star showcasing her skills at 12 years old surfaced on YouTube, featuring Lorde (real name Ella Yelich-O'Connor) with her Belmont Intermediate School band Extreme competing in the covers category of the Intermediate Schools Battle of the Bands Finals in 2009.
Lorde and her famous crazy curls took the stage alongside her pals as they belted a number of classic rock songs. Extreme ended up placing third in the competition.
As you might have heard, her co-manager, Scott Maclachlan, discovered the teen phenom from a video of her singing at a middle-school talent show, where she crooned Duffy's "Warwick Avenue" along with a schoolmate named Louie.
After Louie's dad sent Maclachlan footage of the performance, the Universal Records A&R rep was wowed. However, her journey to super stardom had a few bumps in the road when things didn't click with various songwriters. She eventually teamed up with Joel Little, who had worked in the pop-punk music circuit in the past, and taught the brunette beauty about song structure.
Fast-forward a few years from her Extreme days, and Lorde rocked the Grammys stage (and even walked away a winner!) and also gearing for a U.S. tour in March, with all 16 shows already sold out.