Lana Del Rey Defends Her Comments About Double Standards In The Music Industry
A couple of days ago, Lana Del Rey proved that she doesn’t actually spend 14 hours a day sitting at a vintage vanity, brushing her hair a million times while blowing pink lipglossed kisses to a bottle of Valium. Lana had some things to say on Instagram about her position in the female pop singer pyramid, and so she wrote out a long piece on the matter and posted it to Instagram. According to Lana, she’s on the bottom row; supporting everyone above her while getting zero recognition for her efforts.
The internet took notice, not because they agreed that Lana was underrated and underappreciated, but because Lana chose to single out many high-profile women of color in her quest for success. Lana has responded to all the social media side-eye she received yesterday, and she would like everyone to know her message absolutely 100% did not come from a place of racism, and it’s the media who turned her Instagram post into a me-vs-them situation.
Lana kept busy on social media yesterday by jumping into her own comments section and addressing some of the criticism she received. Lana had accused entertainers like Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, and Kehlani of successfully building pop careers from “being sexy, wearing no clothing, fucking, cheating.” Lana, who stressed she’s not not a feminist, argued that she was sick of people using her “minor lyrical exploration” of being submissive or passive against her, and that she hates being accused of “glamorizing” abusive relationships through song. Lana is a fan of an aggressive beehive, but not an aggressive Beyhive, so she tried to clarify why she dragged Beyonce into it.
Lana says she only mentioned the above performers because those are the artists she looks up to and loves. It had nothing to do with race:
“To be clear because I knowwwwww you love to twist things, I fucking love these singers and know them. that is why I mention them. I would also like to have some of the same freedom of expression without judgement of hysteria.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t had the same opportunity to express what I wanted to express without being completely decimated and if you want to say that has something to do with race that’s your opinion but that’s not what I was saying.”
Lana Del Rey clarifies her thoughts in a comment on her controversial Instagram post on double standards in the industry. pic.twitter.com/JyYsBF7iju
— Pop Globe (@PopGlobe) May 21, 2020
She also stressed she wasn’t trying to make this an issue regarding women of color, they just happen to mostly be women of color. Lana doubled down by suggesting she’s the victim:
How can people think that Lana can be racist!?
If you read clearly this comment without judgment you could see that Queen Lana Del Rey is right as always😌✌🏻 #supportlanadelrey #lanadelrey pic.twitter.com/v20P1SuCqI— 𝙎𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙮𝙖 (@angelicmetonia) May 21, 2020
And she went on:
“By the way the singers I mentioned are my favorite singers so if you want to try and make a bone to pick out of that like you always do be my guest, it doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t had the same opportunity to express what I wanted to express without being completely decimated and if you want to say that that has something to do with race that’s your opinion but that’s not what I was saying.”
She also tried to clarify what she meant when she claimed that people like her weren’t given a platform to speak. I thought she meant Mad Men cosplayers, but she means delicate lady types who don’t adhere to any kind of “strong independent female” self-branding.
“When I said people who look like me – I meant the people who don’t look strong or necessarily smart, or like they’re in control etc. it’s about advocating for a more delicate personality, not for white woman – thanks for the Karen comments tho. V helpful.”
Lana further addressed her haters with a not-subtle hashtag reading “#fuckoff”:
Lana is VERY ADAMANT that she wasn’t coming for those more commercially successful artists. And I do think her words just got mixed up (daily exposure to vintage Adorn Hair Spray fumes will do that to you). I think what Lana meant was that the message of her music isn’t as well-received as Beyonce’s or Doja Cat’s, because it’s not the same message, and people are only open to a message of female empowerment. True! But I also think their music is better received because you can easily choreograph a good TikTok dance to their songs. It’s just too difficult to get people excited about handclaps and hip rolls to lyrics that make you want to sit on the divan in your apron and cry about burning the meatloaf.
Pic: Wenn.com