I probably don’t need to refresh you on the the endless (and I mean, omnipresent, non-stop) controversy that continues to surround Video Games singer Lana Del Rey. Pitchfork caught on to this uproar early on, and interviewed the singer on her background and how she is perceived by her listeners, both those who love and claim to despise her music. Comment threads below every story and music video at times read like raging letters to the editor…the editor, of course, being the music industry. Supposed music fans are angry at the music industry and at their peers for giving so much attention to and caring so much about the future career of such a “fake” singer who, OMG, used to look like a normal person and now looks glamorous.
It seems many of my peers are outraged that Lana Del Rey (formerly, Lizzy Grant) is a “product.” Links to “before-and-after” Google images claim she’s gone under the knife and lost weight to become the badass, Nancy Sinatra-esque, slick-talking vixen we see pouting into her laptop camera, flipping her hair with angst and oozing sex appeal. And my major question, and answer to the impassioned Lana Del Rey haters, is: so the fuck what? Why are we so obsessed with authenticity? Did Holden Caulfield pitch a tent in our brains and start calling “bullshit” on everything that somehow seems phony? Are we so hungry for something “real” because in an era where we use emoticons to express ourselves and we have thousands of “friends” across the internet, we’re all scared of becoming cyborgs who can’t tell real-life from pseudo, digital life? Do we want to point fingers at anything even remotely constructed because we want to prove our own realness? “She’s fake,” seems to be the echo across the internet, but the part left out, and implied, is: “and I’m not.”
Lana Del Rey has only recently made her big debut; today, the equivalent of a musician’s debutante ball, announcing his/her presence to society, is a music video that goes swine-flu viral in days. “Video Games” did just that, (18.7 million hits), as did Tyler the Creator’s “Yonkers” and Kreayshawn’s “Gucci Gucci.” But while Kreayshawn’s authenticity has been a point of debate, or at least a topic of conversation, we weren’t as quick to point fingers. Perhaps it’s because we know she won’t last, that she was a one-hit wonder that will milk her fifteen minutes, or maybe it’s because her “package” isn’t so overtly sexual, glamorous, fashion-focused. Her identity seems less shallow, but is it?
So, Lana Del Rey’s appearance, look, sound, tastes…they’re not a product of the music industry, because she’s new there. Her appearance, look, sound, tastes, are a product for the music industry. Just like Lady GaGa tried on many identities as a singer before her come-as-you-are, freak-like-me, open-sexuality-embracing identity struck a chord with fans, Lana Del Rey found her voice and her looks a home in the beautiful-bad-girl image she’s currently selling. And it’s working. If people feel as though they are being duped, it’s only because we want to see everything. We’re used to seeing the Kardashians poop on TV and we’ve seen every fallen celebrity’s naked photos. Now we want, no we demand, Lana Del Rey’s evolution from normal girl to superstar-on-the-rise in photos, antidotes from “inside sources”, and a tell-all book . But what will this prove? Lana Del Rey is not trying to be the next Bethany Cosentino; she’s on the road to becoming a pop star. And, I’m sorry, but which of our most beloved pop stars were ever “real”? Putting on identities is part of the fun…it’s supposed to be about the smoke and mirrors. Madonna, the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus…they’re all fake, and they’re all monstrously rich and successful pop stars.
Music fans should stop focusing so much on if their favorite musician got a nose job, and start giving more fucks about the path the singer is taking. Even if Lana Del Rey’s entire identity was constructed down to her number of eyelashes, she is, in a way, already remaining authentic to her identity. She’s posing for magazines that are fitting to her image, and using social media mainly for professional reasons. I often wonder if all the discussion surrounding her background and her looks will somehow stop her from becoming a star. But I think that even those people who are painting her with a scarlet letter F for Fake somehow connect with her videos and her look, or they wouldn’t feel so strongly opposed to it all.
Authenticity in pop music is an illusion. Tell the Holden Caulfield in your brain to chill the fuck out.
