Lorde heaps praise on Kanye West and says he is 'the only friend' she needs

In celebration of Lorde's album Pure Heroine turning 10-years-old, the Australian artist has released some new merchandise with a special shoutout to Kanye West.

On the front, the clothes seemed relatively normal, depicting the album itself. On the back, Lorde wrote in typed font a long list of people and things she wanted to send a special wish to. Among the lengthy docket was Kanye which came as a shock for many fans given his more recent controversial statements. After the list, Lorde wrote: "You're the only friend I need."

The final statement was a telling reference to her hit song Ribs. After Lorde rose to popularity, Kanye and her connected and collaborated together on a remix of "Yellow Flicker Beat" in 2014.

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Over the years, Lorde has been a huge Kanye fan. She attended his Yeezy Season 2 presentation and also covered his songs Love Lockdown and Runaway in his home of Chicago. During the show, she said: "Thanks Chicago! It must be nice to come from the same place as Kanye West."

She did have one tense moment with Kanye over the years when she accused him of stealing her stage design. Other than that moment, though, Lorde has not really made her position known on his controversial statements nor has she updated the public on their relationship. Now, this new statement could be a hint that there's still a platonic connection there.

Lorde's full statement on the merch read: "With thanks to: Weed, planes, Tumblr, The Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, the caves underneath Maungauika, boys who could drive, orange juice, birth control, Joel, Jai Pual, Grimes, Lana, Frank, Kanye, Bowie, Burial, Marie Antoinette, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, my sister's Macbook Pro, Robbie, Zac, Hadley, Callum, Morgan, Madeline, Emelia, Finn, Beau, James, portable music players, introversion, naivety, self belief, endorphins, my city, my family, and every single person who ever pressed play, sent me a message or came to a show. You're the only friend I need."

One fan tried to justify Lorde slapping the 'friendship' brand on Kanye. They wrote: "Kanye was very important for the PH era, guys. Before he got all weird and stuff."

However, overwhelmingly, fans were not happy. In response to that remark, many flocked to shut it down. "'Weird and stuff' aka him supporting hitler!!!!" wrote one. Another said: "She decided to approve this merch in 2023 what does that tell you." A debate on Twitter is going down where some fans are justifying Lorde's shout-out and praising Kanye's music while others say there is no excuse.

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