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Home / Entertainment

Why Lorde cancelled her 2021 MTV Video Music Awards performance

NZ Herald
8 Sep, 2021 09:48 PM3 mins to read

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Lorde won't be appearing at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. Photo / Getty Images

Lorde won't be appearing at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. Photo / Getty Images

Lorde has cancelled her upcoming performance at the 2021 MTV VMAs.

The Video Music Awards Twitter account announced the news, writing, "Due to a change in production elements, Lorde can no longer perform at this year's show.

"We love Lorde and cannot wait for her to perform on the VMA stage in the future!"

It's not clear exactly what "production elements" are keeping the star, 24, from performing on stage - or if she'll attend the event at all.

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It's not the first time the Kiwi pop star, whose Solar Power music video bagged a nomination for Best Cinematography, has had trouble with VMAs performances.

She left fans baffled in 2017 after taking to the stage to perform Homemade Dynamite, doing an interpretive dance to a backing track instead of actually singing the words.

Lorde explained later on Twitter that she'd been battling the flu at the time. The tweets have since been deleted.

The VMAs, hosted this year by Doja Cat, are set to feature several other artists from Justin Bieber to Lil Nas X, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo and others.

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The show will take place on September 12 at Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York.

Lorde won't be appearing at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. Photo / Getty Images
Lorde won't be appearing at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. Photo / Getty Images

It comes after the star opened up about her decision to quit social media.

She went into detail on James Corden's The Late Late Show about just how she managed to control the urge to scroll on social media.

"I did it because my brain wasn't working very well anymore," she told Corden and compared her use of social media with an addiction to sugar.

"It was horribly difficult, the hardest thing I've ever done. It's still horribly difficult every day. It would be like stopping eating sugar for me, like I still eat tons of sugar. And if I don't have sugar, I feel insane," she explained.

"And the first little while of not being on social media was totally like that. I was so crabby," she added.

"I felt so disconnected. But it's how my life is now."

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