Lana Del Rey responds to criticism of controversial Instagram post
Lana Del Rey has responded to criticism of a controversial Instagram post she made yesterday (May 21), in which she cited several other female artists to hit back at claims her music “glamorises abuse”.
In her post, Del Rey named Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé, saying that they “have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, fucking, cheating etc”.
She then posed a rhetorical question: “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’s comments incited backlash from fans on social media, who have interpreted her statement as an attack on the artists she named, most of whom were women of colour.
Leaving several comments on her original post on May 22, Del Rey wrote: “To be clear because I knowwwwww you love to twist things. I fucking love these singers and know them. #that is why I mentioned them I would also like to have some of the same freedom of expression without judgment of hysteria.”
“… the singers I mentioned are my favorite singers,” she continued, “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.”
Del Rey also said that the backlash to her initial comments is “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.
“I don’t care anymore but don’t ever ever ever ever bro- call me racist because that is bullshit.”
At the end of Del Rey’s statement yesterday, she also confirmed that her new album – the follow-up to 2019’s critically lauded ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’ – will be out September 5. She also has two poetry books forthcoming with the publisher Simon and Schuster.
Read Del Rey’s initial message below.
