Why Royals IS in fact a rock song

Today Lorde's Royals picked up an award at the VMAs.

Everyone was shocked by the award, not because it's Lorde.  Last year she won two Grammys.  No, people are shocked because they don't consider Royals to be rock, but it actually is.

Yes, Royals is Pop but Pop is short for popULAR.  Popular Music.  This may be a technicality but it's a point that needs to be considered.  Country can be pop as can classical music.  At one point Mozart would have been popular but today we consider him classical.  The point I'm trying to make is that there can be sub genres.

Royals is a popular song and there is no disputing that.

Rock is defined as using a bass guitar and drum.  Royals predominantly uses a drum to keep the beat.  It also has the verse/chrous structure as all rock songs do.  Rock has catchy beats, and nobody could argue that Royals isn't catchy and doesn't have a hook.  Unlike pop music, traditional pop this is which has no other sub genre, rock tends to be authentic.  At the time when Lorde wrote Royals she truly hadn't come from royal and had never seen a diamond in the flesh.  It was genuine.

At one point even Johnny Cash, whom we now consider a very talented country musician was considered rock.  Rock, like all music, evolves over time.

Rock is also defined as having a strong beat, which Royals does, it has a very clear beat.  Another aspect of rock music is the attitude behind it more so than the music itself.  It's hard to know what this means but I can only guess that it is an edginess, and Royals definitely is an edgy song.

It may not be the conventional opinion but having delved into the issue further, Royals is definitely a rock song.  It's not "mainstream rock" (if that's even a term) or "conventional rock" but it is a rock song based on several definitions.  The fact people are genuinely debating whether or not it is a rock song makes it a rock song.  That's what true rock does, it challenges ideas and conventions, and doesn't try to be rock.  It exists as it is and becomes rock whether it's intentional or not, though the fact she's not trying to be rock makes it even more worthy of being rock than someone who tries, because of the earlier definition of authenticity.