Stage designer Es Devlin has revealed how she worked with Katy Perry to create the backdrop to the singer's politically charged performance at the Grammy Awards last night.
Perry performed her new song, Chained to the Rhythm, which was written in response to the recent US presidential election.
The set featured a typically American home surrounded by a picket fence that grew into a wall, referencing President Donald Trump's plans to build a wall between the USA and Mexico.
"She had the idea," the London-based designer told Dezeen. "She wanted to make a perfect little, normal Americana world, a perfect little picket-fenced house, and wanted to grow it so it becomes this divisive wall."
The performance ended with the house exploding while the American constitution was projected onto the stage. Released on Friday, Perry's new song contains the lines "So comfortable, we're living in a bubble, bubble/So comfortable, we cannot see the trouble, trouble".
Devlin said: "The song was definitely in response to the election results. She has made a pop song with a Trojan Horse stacked away inside it. If you listen to the lyrics, it's pretty clear her take on it is how we didn't know how half the country felt ? and now we know."
London-based Devlin worked intensively with Perry and her team of producers and choreographers over a three-week period before the show, emailing and phoning ideas and sketches back and forth.
Devlin worked by interpret...