Popular songstress Lana Del Rey has posted an open letter to shut down the accusation that she has been “glamorising abuse”.
“Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyonce have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, 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?” she posted on Instagram on Thursday.
The Grammy nominee then stated she is “fed up with female writers and alt singers” who claim she glamorises abuse “when in reality” she is “just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing is 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,” the Summertime Sadnesssinger continued.
“Let this be clear, I’m 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 is 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,” Del Rey went on.
The Born To Die singer also wrote she is “been honest and optimistic about the challenging relationships” she has 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. 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,” she continued.
“Yes, I’m still making personal reparations with the proceeds of the books to my choice of the Native American foundations, which I’m very happy about,” she concluded.
“And I’m sure there will be tinges of what I’ve been pondering in my new album that comes out September 5th. Thanks for reading. Happy quarantining,” the singer added.
The singer was called out by few for taking a jibe at the women of colour in the industry. The songstress responded to this in a comment.
“By the way, the singers I mentioned are my favourite singers
so if you want to try and make a bone to pick out of that like you always do be my guest,” she wrote. “It doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t had the same opportunity to express what I wanted to express without being completely decimated.”
“And if you want to say that that has something to do with race that’s your opinion but that’s not what I was saying,” the Young and Beautiful singer concluded.
Del Rey has released six studio albums. Her latest wasNorman F**king Rockwell.
