Paramore singer Hayley Williams took to Instagram to push back against accusations that the videos she has released so far from her upcoming solo debut are using imagery plagiarized from Swedish star Jonna Lee, better known as ionnalee and iamamiwhoami.
A number of users posted screenshots last week on Twitter comparing Williams’ videos with those of Lee, accusing Williams and her team of blatant plagiarism and artistic theft. The visuals are very similar, to the point that many believe Lee was subtweeting Williams when Lee tweeted, “Plagiarism is never flattery. Use your own brain and body.”
Williams finally spoke out on Instagram, explaining, “Earlier today I think an artist accused me of plagiarizing her work. I was very shocked by that accusation. And even more so because I did not know who this artist was. That’s no slight to this artist because now that I know of them, they seem pretty brilliant.”
She added, “I’m proud of my influences and I can say with 100% confidence I just didn’t know this artist existed until today and she was definitely not one of my inspirations nor one of my influences for this project or for anything that I’ve ever done musically in my career.”
Williams' solo effort, Petals For Armor, is set to arrive on May 8th. She has shared five songs and clips from the LP, releasing them last week as the Petals For Armor 1 EP.