The enigma of Lana Del Rey has long been a topic of discussion, but back in 2012, when she first emerged, many people were confused by her aesthetic. She was described as “lethargic” during her live performances, as “disconnected” on her album, and some even thought she was romanticizing sex, violence, and unhealthy relationships.
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Del Rey was labeled a fake, like she was trying too hard, when that was all part of her aesthetic. However, to understand the Lana Del Rey conundrum and what happened after, it’s important to go back to 2012, when she was first emerging on the pop scene.
Lana Del Rey appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live in January 2012 as the musical act. She performed “Blue Jeans” and “Video Games” from her upcoming album Born to Die, which would drop in November. Generally, those watching weren’t that impressed—she seemed lethargic, her voice was low and quiet, and she didn’t move around the stage much. In retrospect, we now know that she’s just like that. Lana Del Rey is not and never will be a performer like Charli XCX, for example. But, in 2012, nobody knew that. It’s possible they just thought she was a bad performer.
That mindset becomes clearer when we think about the hate she received online between the SNL performance and her album hitting the charts. In general, Lana Del Rey’s entire stage personality and music were misunderstood from the beginning.
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Lana Del Rey Was Initially Misunderstood, But Since 2012 A Lot of People Have Backtracked About Her
Pitchfork initially gave Lana Del Rey’s album Born to Die a score of 5.5, which is pretty low by Pitchfork standards. They praised the song “Video Games,” but then claimed that “the ultimate disappointment of Born to Die, then, is how out of touch it feels not just with the world around it, but with the simple business of human emotion.”
However, the publication later revised the score to a 7.8 in 2021. In the revision, Pitchfork claims, “Lana is reaching for something: the fulcrum point where the fear and pain of sexualization start to work as leverage.” So, it took almost 10 years for someone to really get Lana Del Rey.
Del Rey was profiled by Harper’s Bazaar in 2023, an insightful article that considered her modest home compared with her incredible fame. She lived in a small bungalow with broken stone steps and faded lawn furniture, and made coffee in a cheap coffee maker. Of Born to Die, Del Rey said, “I think in one week, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Post, and New York magazine agreed that it was the most ridiculous act that had ever come out.”
Born to Die, as well as her stage personal, were critically panned, but the album gained a huge cult following. Del Rey gained a loyal fanbase who didn’t care about critics’ opinions. Additionally, Del Rey was hurt, but not deterred by the opinions. She told Harper’s, “With the career, I think it was like ‘Let’s just try and see if we can make this work’ instead of having it come to a brutal end.”
Featured Image by Donato Sardella/WireImage
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