The Problem With Lana Del Rey (Is You)

By Dan Weiss Mon., Oct. 10 2011 at 9:17 AM

Categories: Beef

See also: Is Lana Del Rey The Kreayshawn Of Moody, Electro-Tinged "Indie"?

Why have singer-songwriter Lizzy Grant and her press people taken to depicting her as a "Lolita in the hood" and a "gangsta Nancy Sinatra"? Perhaps she doesn't feel she is very interesting.

At least, not interesting enough to her critics and the music industry. Grant is now known as Lana Del Rey, and has a very talked-about song called "Video Games" that appears to chronicle desperation itself with lines like: "Put his favorite perfume on," "It's all for you/ Everything I do" and most harrowingly, "Only worth living if somebody is loving you/ Baby now you do."

She could just as well be singing about becoming a different person so her songs will be noticed. But many have scowled at this notion. Still, to risk being hated over being ignored -- who could blame her?

If you don't think the average indie rock fan's attention span sucks, think of some recent artists with at least five albums, whom everyone respects. Now subtract all the male acts. Congratulations, your list contains one person: PJ Harvey. (Certainly not Liz Phair.)

A.D.D. or sexism? Both? Having been accused of having work done, Del Rey is certainly the only "indie" artist in memory to have sparked controversy over the veracity of her face. But amid the squawking over her image, something has been overlooked: her music's actually good.

Though she hasn't yet released a full-length, tracks like "Video Games" show her to be at least as strong as another 2011 breakout, the not made-over Kurt Vile. But even with her retro signifiers, we wouldn't be talking about Del Rey if not for her backstory. I know because there's plenty of other quite good female music this year that we're not talking about.

Tags:

Dan Weiss, Lana Del Rey

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billy bob

She wasn't ready for SNL it may have ruined her for good. I think her music is quality at least.

Scumbaby22

http://blogs.laweekly.com/west...

Scumbaby22

http://blogs.laweekly.com/west...

James Holland

I just saw her on SNL and it was just awful. I mean c'mon. This is bullshit. It's not a matter of stylistic differences either. She lacks everything. She can't stay on key, there is no melody, no beat, lyrics are terrible, it's not even fun to listen to. If I went out in NYC right now, I could walk into any club and find someone better. I swear I could. no joke. well there is one joke and it's her music career. go act or model.

Scumbaby22

that's called nervous as fuck, there are other live studio performances that are flawless. she didn't belong on SNL that soon. you can't go by one thing/the worst thing, much less someones first ever live television performance.

binarystars

What are you talking about, she hit all the high notes. She's just singing in a range that's a little too deep for her voice, which may be a mistake live but it works on the album. I think the songs are hauntingly good. Differences of opinion.

Delia

The problem I have with her is that she's being presented as something she is not, and that's an indie musician. She isn't. She's signed to Island Records and her image has been carefully packaged. I'm not one to be over-protective of and exclusive about indie music but what does disappoint me is everyone accepting that a corporate major label has figured out a way to manipulate and market one of their musicians toward an audience under the guise that she's just some starving artist who came out of nowhere here to save songwriting.

N M

I think that might be Pitchfork's fault more than anybody elses fault.

Ali Trachta

Wait, so you're telling me that's NOT Heidi Montag?

Babber

You get the point, but not completely right!

N M

I LIKE Lana Del Rey (her lips be damned!), Video Games is brilliant. I don't care if her image is manufactured who in music IS real? Regarding the Dum Dum Girls, it's a good album (not to slight it) but I've heard that sound for many years before.