Lana Del Rey begins her latest Instagram video with the disclaimer that she doesn’t “want to beat a dead horse.” She then launches into another defence of her essay-length post from last week, which caused a deluge of online criticism.
Del Rey refuses to accept any of the criticism was founded in substance. The chart-topping songwriter has a huge audience – including 16.4 million followers on Instagram – and so the scope for backlash is considerable. However, you don’t need to hold a grudge against Del Rey to find the original post ambiguous (not to mention myopic).
But Del Rey seems disinterested in the possibility of innocent misinterpretation and continues with the bitter rebuttals. She begins the new video by underlining how she’d like modern feminism to be expanded. “In that post, my one and only personal declaration I’ve ever made – thanks for being so warm and welcoming – was about the need for fragility in the feminist movement. It’s going to be important,” she says.
The original post mentioned artists such as Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and Kehlani, who’d reached number one “with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, fucking, cheating etc.” Some commentators called this racist, but Del Rey claims they’re her favourite singers, and was clearly irked by the suggestion of racism.
“When I mentioned women who look like me, I didn’t mean white like me,” she says in the new video. But she soon descends into a competitive tone. “I just think it’s sad that the women I mentioned, whether they sing about dancing for money or whatever – the same stuff that I’ve been singing about for 13 years … The difference is when I get on the pole people call me a whore, but when twigs gets on the pole it’s art.”
Del Rey has earned her platform and is attempting to ignite a nuanced discussion, but it’s difficult to agree with the notion she’s never been taken seriously. For starters, she’s one of the most critically admired mainstream pop artists of her generation. And then there’s the fact that every artist she mentioned – including FKA twigs – has also copped loads of backlash and criticism throughout their lives and careers.
But Del Rey insists the culture is against her. “I just want to say the culture’s super sick right now. The fact that they want to turn my post, my advocacy for fragility into a race war, it’s really bad,” she says.
Love Pop?
Get the latest Pop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Anyhow, once the video moves past the defensive spiel, Del Rey reveals the title of her new album. “I think my new record, Chemtrails over the Country Club, is special as well,” she says. It’s due out on Saturday, September 5th.
Check out by ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’ by Lana Del Rey:
