Lana Del Rey Talks 'SNL' Performance
Just 36 hours after the most polarizing Saturday Night Live performance in recent memory, Lana Del Rey is in New York, eating a cookie. "I actually felt good about it," she told Rolling Stone. "I thought I looked beautiful and sang fine." But it's clear that Del Rey has been rattled by the overwhelming Internet vitriol hurled her way after her awkward renditions of two tunes, including the breakout single "Video Games."
How did it feel to sing on live TV?
It felt OK. The cast and crew said they loved it. I know some people didn't like it, but that's just the way I perform, and my fans know that.
Are you comfortable onstage?
I'm nervous. I'm not a natural performer or exhibitionist. When I was younger, I hated the focus, and it made me feel strange.
The backlash to that performance has been pretty harsh.
There's backlash about everything I do. It's nothing new. When I walk outside, people have something to say about it. It wouldn't have mattered if I was absolutely excellent. People don't have anything nice to say about this project. I'm sure that's why you're writing about it.
Have I given you the impression that I don't like your music? I do! Especially the song "Radio."
No. I don't know how you feel about it. It's not easy to gauge how people feel about it. I don't really want to go into it. But thank you, I love "Radio" too.
There's no confusing how Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield feels about Del Rey's debut LP. "Given her chic image, it’s a surprise how dull, dreary and pop-starved Born to Die is," says Sheffield. "It goes for folky trip-hop ballads with a tragic vibe, kinda like Beth Orton used to do. Except she could sing." Read the full Born to Die album review.
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BORN TO DIE review ** (2 stars)
Give Lana Del Rey credit: At least she didn’t break down and cry on Saturday Night Live. She’s a starlet to music bloggers, who’ve been buzzing over her for the past year. But for the rest of us, she’s just another aspiring singer who wasn’t ready to make an album yet. Given her chic image, it’s a surprise how dull, dreary and pop-starved Born to Die is. It goes for folky trip-hop ballads with a tragic vibe, kinda like Beth Orton used to do. Except she could sing.
Her strength is the lyrics, which have the pop-trash perversity that the music lacks. The big theme: femininity as a scam, as lost girls preen for the gaze of imaginary sugar daddies. (Loads of Lolita references, though her literary template seems to be Poison’s "Fallen Angel.") She has clever lines; in "Diet Mtn Dew," she rhymes "Take another drag, turn me to ashes" with "Says he’s gonna teach me just what fast is."
But her voice is pinched and prim, and her song doctors need to go the fuck back to med school. As any fan of Madonna, Britney or Steely Dan could tell you, lyrics about the perils of seduction work better when attached to seductive tunes. In case you miss the concept, "Without You" spells it out: It’s all about "the dark side of the American dream." But American dreams are tempting, which is why they’re dangerous. Unfortunately, this one is neither.
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Born to die debuted today in the UK and it's doing well, see below
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