Lorde’s stage set designer has disputed the singer’s allegations suggesting Kanye West and Kid Cudi stole her floating platform idea for a weekend festival performance in Los Angeles.
Lorde took to social media on Monday (12Nov18) to make it clear she wasn’t happy about the similarities between her suspended Melodrama Tour set, which she also used at Coachella in 2017, and the see-through platform displayed during Kanye and Cudi’s performance as Kids See Ghosts at the Camp Flog Gnaw event on Sunday.
She posted side-by-side Instagram images to show fans just how close the designs were.
“I’m proud of the work I do and it’s flattering when other artists feel inspired by it, to the extent that they choose to try it on themselves,” Lorde captioned one of the photos. “But don’t steal – not from women or from anyone else – not in 2018 or ever.”
Kanye and Cudi have yet to respond to her complaint, but now Es Devlin, who worked with Lorde on her 2017 stage creations and previously teamed up with the Stronger hitmaker, has weighed in on the dispute, insisting the New Zealander cannot claim ownership of the suspended stage style.
“The idea of a floating glass box, of course, is not in any way new and the geometry precedes all of us,” Devlin posted on Instagram. “The form finds another layer of resonance in each new context.”
“I did not design the recent Kids See Ghosts performance: I worked with Lorde on the design for her Coachella performance,” she continued. “I admire both and see no imitation at work here: I think the more interesting point is that both artists, responding to our dis-jointed times, are being drawn to this gesture of the fragile floating room: the world un-moored from gravity: where the rules of civilization and identity as we have known them may soon no longer apply.”
Meanwhile, Kids See Ghosts’ design collaborator, John Maguire from Trask House, has also addressed the controversy, expressing similar sentiments after pointing out that Kanye had performed suspended above the audience on his 2016 Saint Pablo Tour.
“Cubes and floating aren’t new to Kanye West, stage design or architecture,” he explained to The New York Times. “A quick Google (search) of ‘floating glass box’ brings up many instances of suspended glass cubes.”
Other artists who have incorporated such designs into their live sets include the Rolling Stones, Beyonce and JAY-Z, and Lorde’s close pal Taylor Swift.
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