Ayyyeee… What’s Goodie Everyone. So I got some tea and it involves Lana Del Rey.
Lana Del Rey announced an upcoming album in the wee hours of Thursday morning by uploading to Instagram a lengthy preamble in which she lashed out at critics who have allegedly accused her of āglamorizing abuseā through her music.
āDoja Cat, Ariana [Grande], Camila [Cabello], Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and BeyoncĆ© have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes ⦠cheating etc,ā the Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter wrote. āIm fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize abuse when in reality Iām just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all over the world.ā
Backlash to Del Reyās post arrived swiftly. Without denying that double standards exist within the music industry, critics found fault with her decision to name a largely black roster of female artists before stating that āthere has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me.ā Pieced together, her claims seemed to insinuate that these artists hadnāt faced the same level of criticism in their careers.
Themes of abuse are woven throughout Del Reyās work, most notably in the title track of her 2014 album, āUltraviolence,ā which references the Crystalsā 1962 single āHe Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)ā in the chorus. (The album title could also be interpreted as a reference to Anthony Burgessās 1962 novel āA Clockwork Orange,ā in which āultraviolenceā is a term that refers to unprovoked brutal violence.) Some critics at the time did express concerns over Del Reyās handling of abuse: Time magazine, for instance, wondered whether the song glorified domestic violence and quoted a 2013 Fader interview in which pop singer Lorde referred to Del Reyās previous record as āso unhealthy for young girls to be listening to.ā
her music.
āHereās a little sidenote on your piece I donāt even relate to one observation you made about the music,ā Del Rey wrote in response to Powers tweeting the review. āThereās nothing uncooked about me. To write about me is nothing like it is to be with me. Never had a persona. Never needed one. Never will.ā
The tweet sparked conversations on social media about the purpose of music criticism, and who it serves. Powers, for her part, told the Los Angeles Times she respected Del Rey and that āit is a criticās responsibility to be thoughtful and honest to herself in responding to artistsā work, and an artistās prerogative to disagree with that response.ā