Lana Del Rey has issued a lengthy statement regarding her critics.
The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter shared her thoughts in an Instagram post on Thursday (May 21) and called out female pop stars such as Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Doja Cat and Kehlani for their hypersexualized lyrics.
While she wasn’t necessarily saying there’s anything wrong with them, she evidently feels there’s a double standard when it comes to her music.
“Question for the culture,” she began. “Now that Doja Cat, Ariana [Grande], Camila [Cabello], Cardi B, Kehlani, and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, fucking, 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 I’m glamorizing abuse????”
Del Rey added she was tired of the female writers and alt singers” who claim she glamorizes abuse “when in reality” she’s “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.”
“With all of the topics women are finally allowed to explore I just want to say over the last 10 years I think it’s pathetic that my minor lyrical exploration detailing my sometimes submissive or passive roles in my relationships has often made people say I’ve set women back hundreds of years,” she continued. “Let this be clear, I’m not not a feminist.
“But 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 woman who are slated mercilessly for being their authentic, delicate selves, the kind of women who get their own stories and voices taken away from them by stronger women or by men who hate women.”
Throughout her career, Del Rey insisted she’s been nothing but honest and optimistic about the “challenging relationships” she’s had.
“News flash! That’s just how it is for many women,” she added. “And that was sadly my experience up until the point that those records were made. So I just want to say it’s been a long 10 years of bullshit reviews up until recently and I’ve learned a lot from them.
“But I also feel it really paved the way for other women to stop ‘putting on a happy face’ and to just be able to say whatever the hell they wanted to in their music — unlike my experience where if I even expressed a note of sadness in my first two records I was deemed literally hysterical as though it was literally the 1920s.”
Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber Respond To Tekashi 6ix9ine's Billboard Cheating Claims
It seems Grande’s duet with Justin Bieber “Stuck With U” — which just landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week — could’ve been the catalyst for Del Rey’s post. But the timing of the post didn’t bode well for Del Rey considering many black women in the industry are having stellar career moments.
Just last week, Beyoncé, Megan thee Stallion, Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj made music history by becoming the first black women solo artists to occupy the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Hot 100.
Needless to say, Del Rey’s comments failed to resonate with everyone, particularly women of color.
Check out some of the reactions below.
I farted.
Her message wasn’t about race like everyone is acting like … it’s about these hoes that can only get attention for their art by being basically naked and shaking their ass … compared to female artists that won’t sink to that … the reason it seems like she is speaking on race is because the top commercial acts are women of color or white girls acting like they are … be honest about a culture that believes in hyper-violence/sexuality and glorifying criminality … makes for entertaining music but only solidifies stereotypes
She’s right.
Famous person posts something, five SJWs tweet about their disapproval of it… Newsworthy!
And yet, here you are.
Dont confuse intrigue w actually caring. I used 2 be a reg on this site 5 yrs ago when this site had content. Then u got a buncha bitches and prob gay men running ur site and turned into tmz
I like how this turned somehow into a race thing when it wasn’t even about that. My personal belief is that the industry is disrespecting black woman by making carbon copy artist flooding the music scene. They mostly have just sexual lyrics, have big boobs, big ass’s all over the place and they show it off constantly. If they don’t have those assets they go buy it and turn themselves into a gimmick like the rest. Just looks like a bunch of video girls singing/rapping now. Look at what happened with K.Michelle, and she ended up getting her ass removed pretty much. I could go on, but labels and A&R’s really need to take a look how they are exploiting these woman
I like how quick twitter made it about race. Especially one of them saying; “as a WOC”. Preach segregation more. Nothing Lana Del Ray said was wrong. It’s ok to talk about taking a man for everything he has while cheating on him, but she talks about other things that are real in relationships and gets crucified by the SJW mob for saying it. I’m surprised no one told her to “check her privilege” lol. Oh, by the way. New age feminism is toxic, and has somehow became more about the color of your skin than actually being a woman. Prove me wrong.
Oh Lana I love your music but you are painfully wrong here. The music industry knows what sells. Americans love sex and violence. Those who don’t have the talent will most certainly get in where they fit in. So we’re bombarded with t’n’a all day. The day radio stations stop playing dumbed down music then a lot of artists will have no place. Until that day we can all reminisce on a time when there was actually a boat load of great artists in all genres. But don’t blame some of these lame artists who are trying to get paid because America has shown them exactly how they can do that.
She’s complaining about the industry being overly sexualised, & that she doesn’t feel like she should have to sell out and resort to making her records about sex, or strutting around half naked. So in that regard, she’s absolutely NOT wrong. Think she feels a bit irked that those who are REALLY getting paid in the business are the ones who aren’t necessarily as talented as she is as a songwriter but because they flash the flesh and make sexually explicit songs/videos they’re selling more.
I 100% agree with her. And I agree with you. I don’t think she should have mentioned names. We all know who the sellouts are. We all know who’s getting paid but are not really talented. Mentioning names puts you in a bad position. Maybe some the same people she mentioned don’t even wanna do what they do. But do it when there’s millions on the table. Call out the execs and radio stations that continue to reinforce negative stereotypes.
EXACTLY! Every word. I love Lana’s music and the fact that she DOESN’T over-sexualize herself/music. I hope she doesn’t ever sell herself out. I think I’ll go and buy some more of her music.
this bitch needs to just shut the fuck up just because they are successful and ur not as successful as them no need to hate and bring them down some of those women changed the game forever women finally being able to do and talk about things that men have been doing for ages i just think just because u suck dont hate on other people step ur game up or go home not there fault u suck
Tolerance at its finest.
Calm down, you creep. She’s saying all these well selling artists are only doing as well as they are through glamorising sex through their music. I’m not too familiar with a lot of the artists she called out, but I do have to disagree on her bringing Beyoncé into it. Again, not familiar with her whole catalogue, but the music she’s brought out mainly seems to not revolve around sexual lyrics. Other artists, she has a point.
listen here u fucking idiot lana del ray was on a song with arianna grande and miley cyrus being all sexual and here she is talking shit about other women doing it i think shes just sour because shes not making it like they are
You sound like an imbecile. Only mentally stunted fools like yourself have to use the big boy swears to make a point – the rest of us are reading your nonsensical drivel and laughing at you. Educate yourself, expand your vocabulary and maybe, just maybe people will listen to you in the future. Until then, do yourself (& the rest of us) a favour and don’t embarrass yourself furthermore on here. Halfwit.
I want balls on my face with another man
ahhh… who is lana del ray? is she that WWE wrestler?? I know who nicki, B, Kehlani n Cardi are but I ain’t know no Lana Del Ray…. she must be one of them ugly, no fans having hater types… stfu.
lol hahaha theres some butt hurt people on here this other idiot might jump on call u r creep
‘Butt hurt people’. Nah – just calling you out for the uneducated imbecile that you are.
cause you only listen if they are black. how do i know? you didnt even list ariana grande
Lana del Ray has the type of music that you either love or you hate. I actually hated it at first, then I really got into it. There isn’t anything overtly sexy in her music, she has more of a low sexy sound to her voice.
If you criticize a person that happens to be black, you are automatically racist. Brilliant way to get away with shit behavior- guilt anyone who calls you out.
She ain’t calling shit out though, she just sounds bitter. Sex sells, no matter who’s selling it. Almost every female pop star goes down that road, It’s been that way forever, so she has no point…
Something could “be that way” doesn’t make it right. Your response in my opinion doesn’t do much more than what she said if we were go by that logic. It isn’t about being a pop star. It’s about someone using their platform to make other people aware. Most people would prefer “woke”. Cause that’s done so much for society as a whole.
Aware of what? That sex sells??! This is news, how?
Thats her point dipshit. More woman should have more 2 sell than sex..but thats ALL woman have
Yeah and water is wet, so what’s that mean, punk? She’s gonna be the one to change that? I doubt it, she should’ve named the whole industry and not nitpick the names that’ll get the most attention. Fuckin’ Adele probably bout to try it after losing weight, FOH simp
This may get shot down and I may be called a racist for it. But. This is residual from the Obama presidency. Set race relations back to the 80/90s. If not made it worse.
Who??
Niggaz always turning shit into a racial issue lmao .. go eat some chicken & get over it ..
You need to be educated instead of using the n-word(please expand your vocabulary) and if you are not talking about the article then don’t say anything. PERIOD
She can be right and salty at the same time. Which she is lol
We as a people have lost the power of objectivit. Instead of trying to understand a viewpoint based on it’s own merits, we start by taking a view based on what our culture/politics/race/religion has puppeted us to think. So instead of thinking that maybe our music is over sexualized, we first say oh my God shes criticizing Beyonce, which is forbidden given that we have been told that Beyonce is everything. We then scrounge up “facts” which are actually just really biased opinions formed by a brainwashed collective to try and destroy the giver of the viewpoint.
how the fvck did this get turned into a black vs white thing??
Black ppl..
Because a Karen opened her mouth
lana del rey is anything but a karen, or a feminist. lana just pointed out the obvious about how critics used to give her shit about her content. the critics didn’t fuck with her until recently, and now are only showing love and appreciation for her music. in addition, all the women she named actually got praise for shit lana got criticized for, which is hypocritical
Where did she lie? Ppl are too sensitive, it’s actually sickening
As a white man i love seeing these white woman who used 2 shit on white men 2 appease PoC get their time 2 shine lmaoo. White men stay outta this
Stop acting pathetic she never shitted on white men. You sound like a bitter woman trying to act like a white man
The problem was putting Beyonce with that group. She has feisty followers that protect her at the slightest mentioning of her name sort of like Eminem fans. Anyways instead of making this a black vs white thing, I guess people are dumb to know- Ariana Grande is white, Doja Cat/Kehlani are half-white, Camila is Hispanic and Cardi B is half-Hispanic.
Her actual problem was explaining herself lol she should of put up a disclaimer telling ppl to suck her dick if theyre upset w how she feels
God forbid if someone says anything critical of supreme leader Beyoncé.
yeah, seems like many have completely missed the point of lana del rey’s post. you see, its true for years shes gotten criticism for glamorizing abuse, being sad and singing about hopeless romance, and it took her until last year for people to praise and appreciate her music, and we happen to see many females now doing songs/music similar to what lana del rey has been doing for years, and lana is just pointing it all out. shes not saying anything negative about anyone’s accomplishments or race, its about the mainstream perception of her, lana, compared to other female artists. thats it. people are either too dumb to get it, or they do get it and are being dishonest in their response to her post trying to act she bashed people when she did no such thing. i guess only people whos been following lana’s career would really understand where she was coming from.
Lana better have body if she want to talk that talk. I ain’t watchin no video unless I see some back, racks, twerkin, dirty talk and tongue action. If not she better take herself back to her vanilla villa and chill!
I think people criticize Lana because she slept her way into contracts. She was Harvey’s girl for a long time and even made a song about his fat azz. What a stupid thing to do to your career. Nobody in the business respected her after that. She is also not original and has no talent. Anyway the Harvey thing made her an easy target.
I hate how she attacked all these hard working talented singers just because her ass can’t make top 10. Anyways stream Rain on me by Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga ?
Are people looking to find something that isn’t actually there? I don’t think she’s racist all
Lana hasn’t received criticism on the same scale as some of these other women. She really isn’t in everyone’s face like that. I didn’t understand her need to bring everyone into it.
She KINDA has a point.When Jermaine dupri said all female rappers are strippers, even though he meant mainstream rappers, everybody like Cardi and doja cat was listing dope females like Rapsody. Then how come there’s not as much outrage when Rapsody’s Eve album or no female album is nominated for a Grammy?
And before you want to use the whole “sex, clothes, cars, and guns” sales excuse, remember Tupac, Kanye West, Kendrick, J Cole, Jay-Z, Eminem, and even Macklemore have records not about that and they go gold if not platinum.
But yet people like Drake, Future, Young Thug, and many others rap ONLY about cars, dugs, guns and sex and no one bats an eye. We need logic not hypocrisy.