Lorde told a festival crowd to skip the AI glasses. Then a Meta ambassador walked on stage.
At a Madrid music festival sponsored by Ray-Ban, the pop star called AI smartglasses 'fucked up' and urged fans not to buy them. Moments later, Blackpink's Jennie, a paid Ray-Ban Meta ambassador, took the stage.
Key points
- Lorde spoke out against AI smartglasses during her set at the Real Cool Festival in Madrid on a Thursday in July 2025.
- She did not name a brand, but the festival's sponsor was Ray-Ban, which sells AI glasses made in partnership with Meta.
- Blackpink member Jennie, a paid Ray-Ban Meta ambassador, performed directly after Lorde at the same event.
- Meta reportedly plans a next-generation "super sensing" version that records continuously, even as its existing glasses face growing public criticism.
Lorde was midway through her Madrid set when she paused to address the crowd. She thanked them for showing up to "something real," then said it was getting harder to tell what real even means.
Then she got specific.
"You don't know if someone is wearing sunglasses or if they're wearing those fucked up fucking... Can I just say, for the record, fuck the glasses. Don't get the glasses. Not sexy."
Fans posted the videos immediately. They spread.
She never named a brand. But the festival's sponsor was Ray-Ban, whose Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses look like ordinary frames while recording video, taking photos, and responding to voice commands. The timing made her target plain.
What made the moment stranger was what followed. Lorde was succeeded on stage by Jennie from Blackpink, according to Stereogum, which first reported the detail. Jennie is a paid Ray-Ban Meta ambassador, has appeared in its Instagram campaigns, and a promotional video for the glasses reportedly played on the festival's screens between sets.
Subtle, it was not.
Meta did not respond publicly to Lorde's comments. We covered a separate instance of the company retreating under user pressure: in our story from 13 July 2026, we reported how Meta pulled an Instagram AI feature after users objected to it.
Should you be worried about AI glasses recording you in public?
The concern is real. AI smartglasses are visually indistinguishable from ordinary sunglasses. A wearer can record or photograph bystanders without any outward sign they are doing so. Meta is reportedly developing a version with continuous recording, meaning the camera would run non-stop rather than only on command.
Right now, there is no reliable way for a bystander to know whether the person next to them is wearing ordinary frames or recording ones.
Lorde's objection is personal and aesthetic. The discomfort behind it, though, points to a genuine gap between what the technology does and what most people assume when they walk into a crowd. That gap is worth watching as the hardware gets smaller and the recording gets longer.
