Lana Del Rey

New York Times piece. I still haven't listened to one of her songs yet, but Times piece was kind of cute, especially the way it ended with her having to babysit for a friend.

I hate her and I don't even know why.

It is because she is too pretty and successful, so the rules say to hate her. You must follow the rules or something bad will happen. Know that this is true. You must follow the rules.

(I am in no way affiliated with the group who control the internet.)

I know why I hate her! (Or, honestly, I can't even work up the energy to hate her. I'm more like, "Oh yeah...her. Eh.") It's because she's doing something that's been done many, many times before by artists much, much more talented than her. She's a copy of a copy and having her pushed down America's collective throat as the Next Big Thing is just depressing.

I don't hate her, but I do think she sucks. Or at least I don't think she has much talent; maybe she's a perfectly lovely person. Her lyrics are fairly stupid and her delivery puts me to sleep. However, I could never hate her, because her existence means the internet has given us this magnificent parody, which is my favorite thing all week.

Miss Moneypenny wrote:I know why I hate her! (Or, honestly, I can't even work up the energy to hate her. I'm more like, "Oh yeah...her. Eh.") It's because she's doing something that's been done many, many times before by artists much, much more talented than her. She's a copy of a copy and having her pushed down America's collective throat as the Next Big Thing is just depressing.

Yes, that does sound like why I don't like her.

That parody was how I first heard of her! I love it, even without knowing her work.

Lily Rose wrote:

Miss Moneypenny wrote:I know why I hate her! (Or, honestly, I can't even work up the energy to hate her. I'm more like, "Oh yeah...her. Eh.") It's because she's doing something that's been done many, many times before by artists much, much more talented than her. She's a copy of a copy and having her pushed down America's collective throat as the Next Big Thing is just depressing.

Yes, that does sound like why I don't like her.

You only think that's why. It means the plan is working.

She's like a higher end Rebecca Black -- daddy bought her music career, despite lack of talent. And the lying about the plastic surgery grates, because the pictures of her before make it clear she had tons of work done.

There are a lot of good reasons to be annoyed by this one.

The parody is legitimately better than the original song, which sounds like something a whiny high school junior wrote about her first boyfriend. No offense to Taylor Swift intended.

She admitted she didn't rehearse for SNL which she got on because of her overhype. I can't with that. So many singers would love to be on there and this girl doesn't even rehearse.

I had never heard of her when she was on SNL, and I literally didn't know what the hell was going on or if she was a real singer or some kind of Kaufman-esque performance artist or what. I was in Newbury Comics the other day for a long while and they had her album on, which I didn't even realize at first but eventually one of the SNL songs came on and I clued in. I actually kind of enjoyed it, but what it made me think was "Oh, she sounds fine when she's been auto-tuned."

The whole THING is a little precious for me, so I am not going to like, be into her or anything, but I think her album is all right. And she's not the only person to suck on SNL. But, man, she REALLY sucked on SNL.

Kiran wrote:She admitted she didn't rehearse for SNL which she got on because of her overhype. I can't with that. So many singers would love to be on there and this girl doesn't even rehearse.

Yeah, that sounds pretty entitled. Too bad, the Times interview made her sound much less annoying.

I was cringing so much during her SNL performance from secondhand embarrassment that I had to fast-forward it. I honestly felt bad for her for a little while, but I can't feel too sorry for you if you're dumb enough not to rehearse before a live show. Especially a live show on national television at a venue that's known for making music acts sound bad. Though I guess she did do better than Ashlee Simpson.

I'm also stuck on the stupidity of the "gangster Nancy Sinatra" label. The original Nancy Sinatra was the gangster Nancy Sinatra. (Though if Lana could find her own Lee Hazelwood, maybe that would help her out a lot.)

I think part of her problem is she came out before she was fully cooked. Plenty of popstars (every popstar) have manufactured images, but even completely artificial ones like Nicki Minaj's or Lady Gaga's don't seem as forced as hers. Maybe if she had more time--to get used to performing, learn what she needed to do, solidify who she was trying to be--she'd be facing a lot less backlash right now. She does have a unique, dreamy sound that could be something quite amazing.

(Also, whoever wrote that Times article needs to be punched for that "skinnier Adele" comment.)

Don't forget "more stable Amy Winehouse"! No, stupid reporter, not exactly. One of these things is not like the others.

Miss Moneypenny wrote:I know why I hate her! (Or, honestly, I can't even work up the energy to hate her. I'm more like, "Oh yeah...her. Eh.") It's because she's doing something that's been done many, many times before by artists much, much more talented than her. She's a copy of a copy and having her pushed down America's collective throat as the Next Big Thing is just depressing.

This is why I don't hate her. Every single pop star ever has had a manufactured persona. I personally think she bombed on SNL to get publicity, which is a problem in and of itself, but minor compared to the stuff others have engaged in. She's doing exactly what others musicians and actors have done before but she's getting all the grief. I don't get it.

I just think she was built up to ridiculous heights for no particular reason. The higher you get, the longer the fall. Way too many people knew her name but had their first exposure to her voice on SNL. That's just a recipe for disaster. And then when you add in interviews where she calls music a "hobby", admitted the day before SNL she didn't even know what songs she was performing, and now says she's not sure she has any interest in making a second album? A lot of people (me included), are pretty much like, well then get the hell out if this is such a drag for you. It's not like her stunning tone-deafness will be missed.

She's doing exactly what others musicians and actors have done before but she's getting all the grief.

I definitely don't get all the hate regarding the reworked look but she did suck on SNL, so that didn't exactly impress or endear me to her. I think the big sticking point seems to be whether or not she is just a trustafarian and daddy bought her a record contract. I'll admit it bothers me, manufactured image is one thing manufactured narrative is something else.

tothemax wrote:She's doing exactly what others musicians and actors have done before but she's getting all the grief. I don't get it.

I think the combination of trying extremely hard to get famous then affecting an indifference to fame is really off-putting. Carpetbombing the internet and the media just to tell them that you don't care about your success is massively annoying.

blixie wrote:I'll admit it bothers me, manufactured image is one thing manufactured narrative is something else.

I don't think those can be easily separated: one feeds into the other feeds into the other. It's not that I think Del Rey is authentic in image or narrative - she's clearly not - I just think most everyone else is equally fake. This is why I try to ignore interviews or the like; every little detail is stage managed and none of it is real. I may be a good deal more cynical than others, though.

I've been listening to her music a lot while sitting around a courthouse waiting to be put in a jury box, and i have to say that I actually like her music. I've still yet to see the disaster that was her SNL gig, and I think I'll go check it out on YouTube right now to see what the hoopla was all about. Don't know anything about her besides that her music simultaneously annoys and amuses me and that she looks very pretty on her album cover.

I clearly live under a rock as I'd never heard of her before she appeared on SNL. For most of her performance I assumed it was a skit gone awry, one of the ones they let go on way too long before getting to the lame punchline. Or some tribute to David Lynch.

I couldn't get past the first 20 seconds of her "Video Games" performance because it was so cringeworthy and awkward.

naughty zoot wrote:I clearly live under a rock as I'd never heard of her before she appeared on SNL. For most of her performance I assumed it was a skit gone awry, one of the ones they let go on way too long before getting to the lame punchline. Or some tribute to David Lynch.

She's a typical David Lynch heroine. Which would be amazing in one of his movies,but extremely strange in real life.

Ive heard of her but never heard her songs before. Just saw the clip for Born to Die at the gym and came here to ask how she got famous. It's friggen terrible.

I think her biggest problem is that she can't act. Every other manufactured pop star can at least act. She's terrible.

And while a lot of these types don't have the best voices when processed they're fine. Her voice can't even be processed to be good. Ugh.

Ha, I was just coming over to post the opposite, kind of.

Maybe it was my expectations were so low from what I'd read about her but I really enjoyed her songs and while she lacked stage presence on SNL I thought her singing was fine. She carried a tune a lot better than many before her.

I downloaded her album and it's real flaw is that, while I enjoy its ethereal feel, the songs pretty much have the same structure and the lyrics are so simple with very little depth, it gets boring fast. I listened to the whole thing for a few days and then had to take take it out of rotation.

Her videos are pretty entertaining though. Melodramatic and everything she does seems so affected. That girl who does The Hunger Games parody was spot on with her acting.