Lorde’s 2017 Coachella Stage Designer Doesn’t Think Kanye West Imitated Singer’s Set Design
Yesterday (Nov. 12), Lorde accused Kanye West and Kid Cudi ripping off a stage design she used during her 2017 Coachella performance. Today, Es Devlin, who's worked as a stage set designer for both artists in the past, jumped onto social media to dismiss the idea that Yeezy and Cudi stole the singer's idea.
In one of her Instagram posts, Devlin, who helped design the stage set for Lorde's Melodrama Tour and the singer's performance at the 2017 Coachella, says that she didn't see imitation with Ye and Cudi's Camp Flog Gnaw stage set.
"The idea of a floating glass box, of course, is not in any way new and the geometry precedes all of us. The form finds another layer of resonance in each new context," Devlin says in the caption.
She continues, "I did not design the recent Kids See Ghosts performance: I worked with Lorde on the design for her Coachella performance : 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."
This isn't Ye's first time using a floating stage. During his Saint Pablo Tour, the Yandhi rapper incorporated a gigantic floating surface into his set and hovered above fans as he performed. Other artists have used this idea including Jay-Z and Beyoncé for their On The Run II Tour.
Also responding to Lorde's comments was Trask House owner John Maguire, whose company helped design the 2018 Camp Flog Gnaw stage, told The New York Times, that neither Lorde nor Yeezy or Cudi were the first to incorporate floating stages into their design.
“Cubes and floating aren’t new to Kanye West, stage design or architecture," he said. "A quick google of floating glass box brings up many instances of suspended glass cubes.”
Check out Es Devlin's comments regarding Kanye West and Kid Cudi's stage set design for yourself below. See Lorde's initial comments about Yeezy and Cudi beneath those.
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