She also attempted to clarify what she meant by "people who look like me. I don't care anymore but don't ever ever ever ever bro- call me racist because that is bulls-." It’s exactly the point of my post - there are certain women that culture doesn't want to have a voice it may not have to do with race I don't know what it has to do with. And this is the problem with society today, not everything is about whatever you want it to be. "I could've literally said anyone but I picked my favorite f- people. This is sad to make it about a WOC issue when I’m talking about my favorite singers," she wrote. All the women Lana mentioned have been through hell."ĭel Rey responded to the backlash later Thursday in the comment section of her post, writing that the women she mentioned are her "favorite singers." Kehlani got death + rape threats for a breakup song. Lana's song, 'Cola,' features the lyrics. despite what people's ears are leading them to believe. "News flash! That's just how it is for many women."Īnother Twitter user wrote: "Beyoncé was threatened to get lynched because she dared to sing about police brutality, Ariana got death threats for the death of her boyfriend that she had no control over. Lana Del Rey's 2012 track about preferring older men is NOT about Harvey Weinstein. "I've been honest and optimistic about the challenging relationships I've had," the singer wrote. She went on to say: "I am fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize abuse when in reality I'm 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."ĭel Rey, born Elizabeth Grant, wrote that she is "not not a feminist," but that there has to be a place in feminism for "women who look and act like me - the kind of woman who says no but men hear yes - the kind of women who are slated mercilessly for being their authentic, delicate selves." The patient flow, risky songwriting choices, and mature character of the album make it the most majestic chapter of Lana Del Rey's continuing saga of love and disillusionment under the California Sun."Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, f-, cheating, etc - can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect, or dancing for money - or whatever I want - without being crucified or saying that I’m glamorizing abuse?" Del Rey asked. While much of her older material reveled in its own inconsolable sadness and detached numbness, the lush sonics and intimate narratives of Norman Fucking Rockwell! draw out hope from beneath desolate scenes. The nine-minute song begins with gentle strings and soft, hopeful melodies but winds into a long, meditative stretch where synth textures and hypnotic repeating vocals bleed into walls of noisy guitars. "Venice Bitch" is the best example of this. Where huge pop hooks met eerie melodrama on previous albums, here both extremities of that formula have grown more understated and direct. A faithful reading of Sublime's "Doin' Time" contorts to fit Grant's moody approach, becoming an extension of her own expression rather than a goofy, ironic cover. The most exciting aspects of Norman Fucking Rockwell! come in these unexpected moments. With her career flailing a bit at the time, she uploaded the song to her YouTube page, where it gained a. Even though Stevie Nicks' witchy mystique has long been a reference point for LDR, this particular brand of classic rock - silky guitar solos, compressed drum fills, and lingering, mournful outros - is unlike anything she's attempted before. Lana Del Rey experienced both sides of that coin with her 2011 song Video Games. A strong classic rock influence comes through on many songs, with the softly building pianos and acoustic guitars on tracks like "Mariners Apartment Complex" or the apocalyptic "The Greatest" sounding like the best of '70s FM radio reworked around Grant's smoldering, exhausted vocals.
Where 2017's Lust for Life had its share of huge drums and booming dynamics, many songs here are free of drums completely and tend towards far more solitary atmospheres. One of the first noticeable shifts is how subtle the album's sound is.
With sixth album Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Lana Del Rey expands her vision with the most daring and vulnerable work of her catalog.
Her distinctive approach blurred sadness and longing just as it did past and present, drawing on the influence of classic American pop while integrating modernized touches like trap beats and millennial cultural references. With the creation of her Lana Del Rey persona, singer/songwriter Lizzy Grant stitched together the iconography of a fading American dream with soaring but melancholic pop songwriting, becoming an icon unto herself in the process.