Lorde ''forgot'' she had a career.

The 18-year-old musician took an extended period off from her busy life of touring and recording over Christmas and revealed she had so much fun, the fact she's an internationally renowned singer almost slipped her mind.

She said: ''I had three months off. It was summer in New Zealand and I just went on all these road trips and did heaps of rock walking. I found the best dive spots, did some great fishing and saw some orca whales. It was amazing. Just lying in the ocean in front of my house and being like, 'Life!'

''It was weird, because I almost forgot I had a career, something that I filled my days with. I was like, 'Oh s**t!' because all my friends were going off to university and I was like, 'I need to figure out what I'm doing because I've been cruising for a long time ... Oh, I have something that I can do!' I had a bit of a complex because I was like, 'S**t, it's time!'''

The 'Royals' singer - who released her debut album 'Pure Heroine' in 2013 - explained her home life is different now than before she shot to fame though, as some of her friends at home can't deal with her new found fame.

She told Dazed magazine: ''With any transition you do lose people, which is sad, but some people don't want to deal with what you're doing or it freaks them out a bit. So there are people I'm not as close to now, but I still roll deep with my original dudes so it's good.''