Lorde Calls Out Kanye West, Accuses Him Of Stealing Her Tour Set Design

Lorde made a rare Instagram post to call out Kanye West and Kid Cudi for “stealing” one of her set designs. The singer shared a series of photos to her Instagram Stories that compare her tour set to the one designed by Es Devlin for West and Cudi’s tour, saying that she is flattered when other artists are inspired by her — but that they shouldn’t steal the work of others.

“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,” she wrote on Instagram. “But don’t steal – not from women or anyone else – not in 2018 or ever.”

Lorde worked with Es Devlin to create the glass tank-like box design for her tour in 2017. The design was manufactured by Tait.

“It’s hard to come up with stuff that feels new, and with the tank it felt weird and interesting and quite specific to me,” she said. “The two of us just built it from the ground up, bouncing ideas back and forth.”

Devlin has also worked with Kanye West on various projects for over a decade, including designs for his “Touch the Sky,” “Glow in the Dark,” “Watch the Throne” and “Yeezus” tours. The stage designer shot back at Lorde with a series of Instagram posts of her own, showing a similar box design that she had created for the English National Opera in 2007 for a production of “Carmen” by Georges Bizet.

This isn’t the first time that West has been accused of stealing set designs from other artists. In June, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails accused West of plagiarizing his set design.

“I saw Kanye West blatantly rip off… our tours production-wise, which I’ll say without any hesitation. And they know.”

West has had other drama this week, after being forced to postpone his upcoming album Yandhi. The album was originally slated for release on September 29, but was pushed back to November 23. Now, after performing with Cudi under the name Kids See Ghosts at the “Camp Flog Gnaw” festival in Los Angeles, West announced that the album will be further delayed.

“It felt so good being on the stage last night with my brother Cudi. After performing again, I realize the new album I’ve been working on isn’t ready yet. I’ll announce the release date once it’s done. Thank you for understanding,” Kanye said in a Twitter post.