Beyoncé Accused of Ripping Off "Hold Up" Video

BY Sarah MurphyPublished May 3, 2016

Beyoncé issued her latest album Lemonade last week, and it arrived with a stunning full-album visual accompaniment. Each track was treated to a music video, woven together by additional imagery and dramatic narration — but some of the drama seems to have carried over off screen.
 
Several fans and outlets have pointed out that Bey might be guilty of ripping off a video premise from another artist. Swiss visual artist Pipilotti Rist released a video titled "Ever Is Overall" in 1997 that finds a woman in a brightly coloured dress roaming the streets, smashing in car windows.
 
For anyone who has seen the video for Beyoncé's "Hold Up" (or at least the gifs of the video that went instantly viral), it might induce some serious déjà vu.
 

 
A fan-run Twitter account for Rist is slightly less enthused by the new Beyoncé offering, and has since has reposted several side-by-side images pointing out the similarities between the clips. Rist has not offered an official statement at this time.
 

It's not just the video that seems to be repeating history — Beyoncé was previously accused of plagiarising her "Countdown" video back in 2011.
 
While the Lemonade visuals are currently streaming exclusively on Tidal you can see a brief side-by-side video comparison of Bey's "Hold Up" and Rist's video project "Ever Is Overall" in the player below. Past that, watch the full version of Rist's clip.
 

 

Latest Coverage