UPDATED 10:05 p.m. ET: Trask House, who worked on the KSG stage, have also released a statement in which they note that neither Lorde nor West were "the first person to use a floating glass box."
Both stage designers for @Lorde’s 2017 Coachella performance and @KanyeWest’s ‘Kids See Ghosts’ performance shut down Lorde’s claim that Kanye West copied her. pic.twitter.com/ssfXnFo9Zr
See original story below.
As soon as Kanye West and Kid Cudi made their formal debut as two-person supergroup Kids See Ghosts at Camp Flog Gnaw this weekend, many stage design obsessives—myself included—pointed out similarities to Lorde's Melodrama era performances. Specifically, the long, clear floating box in which West and Cudi performed was strikingly similar to the one Lorde filled with dancers during her breathtaking Melodrama World Tour.
Lorde herself later made the same observation in a series of updates to her Instagram Story. "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 said Monday. "But don't steal—not from women or anyone else—not in 2018 or ever."
Now, Es Devlin—who's worked with both West and Lorde on multiple tour pieces—has entered the conversation. In a series of Instagram posts Tuesday morning, Devlin noted her use of a floating box design in Georges Bizet's Carmen for the English National Opera circa 2007.
This 2016 post from Devlin has also surfaced:
Neither West nor Cudi have commented on the design. West, however, has since once again postponed his Yandhi album. Hopefully, that delay is due to some newfound desire to remove any MAGA stains from the final tracklist.
