Why All The Hate For Lana Del Rey

Why All The Hate For Lana Del Rey?

I'm an indie music fan.  Love to hear new and original stuff, dedicated to the SiriusXM channel on satellite, and surf several music blogs that are out there.  And, as a result, I've developed quite the taste for underground, off the radar, or proudly eclectic music.

I've also found out that, when it comes to indie music, the hate can be pretty bad.  Case in point, the dislike that is rained upon Lana Del Rey.

Hat Tip To Black Neon For The Image

It seems like, unlike most artists, who seem to have an even distribution of the spectrum, for Del Rey, it's either abject adoration or abject hate.  And it seems to me that the haters have by and large gained a more public following after Del Rey's poor performance on Saturday Night Live, which was exacerbated by Brian Williams' leaked email, calling her the worst performer on the show's history.

I’ll grant you this, her SNL performance was not her best.  I would also argue that, with her really only having a pair of indie hit singles, with a third just starting to take hold, SNL really had no business booking her for such a high profile gig at this point in her career.  Combined with Del Rey’s own issues with Stage Anxiety, and the performance was bound to be a disaster.  Granted, a performer should be ready to perform at a moment’s notice, as a female companion of mine would say.  I would also argue that her booking agent should have also known better, with those factors in mind.

Some websites argue that Del Rey’s music isn’t all that different or sophisticated., that it’s merely, quaint.  There are some Cat Power elements to her music, and that is both used as a compliment and an insult to Del Rey by her supports and critics.  While there are elements of what influences of what a person has used for inspiration, any artist of substance will be unique and different (well, maybe not Justin Bieber).  Del Rey isn’t no exception.  The voice is unique and distinctive, dark and seductive.  And while the majority of the buzz is on her serious material, such as Born To Die, Blue Jeans, etc, she also has some wonderfully fun and catching tunes that you can hear.  Diet Mountain Dew and Kinda Out Of Luck are nifty little tunes that are worth your time if you can find some MP3’s of her singles on the Web.

To be honest, I wonder how much of the Lana Hate actually comes from the fact that she is, to be blunt, beautiful.  Many of the indie bloggers dislike Del Ray’s rather glamorous mainstream appeal (most notably Carles from the blog Hipster Runoff), and also take subtle jabs at the fact that she may have gotten some work done.  There are some very lovely indie music female artists out there, all of whom have features that make them attractive in their own unique ways.  However, what Del Rey does have is that sort of classic, Hollywood, mainstream appeal that normally isn’t found too often in the indie music world.  I guess what I’m trying to get at is, I feel a great many people feel that Del Rey is only using the indie music scene as a way to get her name out there, to build a following.  Once she arrives, and establishes herself, the fear may be that she will leave that following behind forever.

Music is an awfully subjective subject in itself.  What someone will find as an exceptionally poetic and deep song, others will find it to be nothing more than loud, inaudible noise that blares through their radio.  I love the Decemberists for their folksy old school sound, and deeply poetic and literate lyrics.  Others will dismiss it as indie crap.  I dismiss most country, in particular the song “Red Solo Cup”.  Others will argue its innocent fun.  What one person digs will not necessarily get someone else’s juices flowing.  It really all depends on what your own POV and tastes are.

In the case of Lana Del Rey and really all music in general, is that you have to ask yourself the following questions.  Does the song please you?  Can you dig it, enjoy it, picture it as a part of the soundtrack of your life?  Can it console you in your darkest times, tap into your creative energy to produce something you never thought you could do?  Can it make the ride home from work, or set the scene for a night out with those that make your life worthwhile?  Can you picture the song echoing in your head as you gaze into someone’s eyes and into their soul?  Can the song, once it plays, cause memories to hit you with the force of thunderbolt, as all those glorious feelings that make us human, both good and bad, surge through your body?

In my case, yes, Lana Del Rey can do that.  Give her a try, before you hate, and see if she does the same thing to you.  Critics be damned.