Bianca Censori, the wife of Kanye West, is widely known for her provocative style choices, but until recently, her musical abilities had largely gone unnoticed.
On Friday, January 16, the 31-year-old Australian architect posted a clip to her Instagram Stories showing herself playing a handpan, a percussion instrument sometimes referred to as a hand drum.
Seated cross-legged on the floor, Censori wore black leggings paired with a black crisscross halter top that highlighted her shoulders and sculpted arms as she tapped out a calming rhythm.
The handpan — a UFO-like, dome-shaped steel instrument developed in Switzerland — is designed with multiple tone fields arranged around a central note. When played by hand, it produces otherworldly, resonant sounds.
West’s wife, who recently drew attention for her controversial art installation in Seoul, South Korea, appeared expressionless as loose tendrils of dark, curling hair framed her face.
She did not speak or include any caption in the post, though she occasionally looked toward the camera and scanned the room, which appeared to be the couple’s modern home.
Censori also did not identify the piece she was playing. Instead, she continued moving her hands fluidly across the instrument, sustaining the eerie, hypnotic melody.
After the video circulated — including being reposted on X — many viewers reacted with amazement and praise.
“Ok I keep playing this and something about it is actually so soothing. It doesn’t sound like she’s just messing around or practicing, she knows the notes she’s playing. I think she’s doing intentional frequency,” one user wrote on the platform.
“I understand why ye loves her now,” another commented, while a third added, “a multi talented queen she is” alongside a flame emoji.
Back in December, Censori made headlines with her performance art installation, BIO POP (THE ORIGIN), unveiled in Seoul, South Korea. The exhibit featured female mannequins contorted into unusual positions while confined within pieces of furniture.
As part of the performance, Censori entered wearing a form-fitting burgundy catsuit, baked a cake, and pushed it on a trolley through the space, surrounded by contortionists styled to resemble her.
According to Censori’s website, BIO POP is described as a “self-portrait in constraint. Positions learned in private are worn in public. It is the first reliquary, holding rituals and heirlooms, inscribing both body and spirit with its codes. The domestic, turned uncanny, becomes the womb of the system - the site where intimacy, confinement, and identity are first inscribed.”
The description further explains that the furniture is not meant to serve as “passive support,” but instead functions as “an apparatus that moulds the body, turning comfort into confinement and domesticity into architecture. The doubles inside the furniture become extensions of the design, collapsing the distinction between object, body, and idol.”
