The problem with Lana del Rey is not her music. The music is all right. In fact, Norman Fucking Rockwell, her latest, is her most consistent album to date. And while the main vocal hook in "Fuck It I Love You" is the most annoying thing I have heard all year, much of the LP is full of beautiful meandering melodies that spell a talent bigger than a fraud. So no - the problem with Lana del Rey is not her music. The problem with Lana del Rey is that she does not mean a word she sings.
Which is crucial, because in a world where everyone and everything is overrated, there is one thing whose value will never go down. I am talking about sincerity, a notion to which Lana del Rey, by the looks and by the sounds of it, is a total stranger.
Note please that the concept of art for art's sake does not apply here. If it did, the whole thing would sound a lot more intriguing and, yes, seductive. Lana del Rey's case is different in the sense that she wants to come across as someone genuine, someone sad-eyed and tragically beautiful, someone possessing real emotions and not just sorrowful red dresses that she wears lying on a West Coast beach drinking cocktails and watching boys in immaculate slow-motion. This desire is commendable, of course, but she cannot really execute her intention beyond song titles and staged photoshoots. Because the image is manufactured, and the fakery is so overblown it becomes genuinely grating.
From the Spanish name to that impeccable pout, you would have to try really fucking hard not to smile. It probably speaks volumes about the superficial nature of these times when so many people (who really should know better) fall for that crap. In fact, many of these people get their knickers in a twist when you question the integrity and the incessant name-dropping (Norman Rockwell being the latest casualty). They should not bother: outside the Spanish name and the impeccable pout, there is nothing to Lana's personality. Zilch. Cocktails and boys in slow-motion are as far as it goes.
With Lana del Rey, you are not supposed to disentangle the song from the image. When you do that, however, you are left with tons of empty posturing and a few good songs. Thus, I would still profess my admiration for the cold-blooded charms of "Video Games" and "Ride" and "Venice Bitch" as well as a vocal hook here and a vocal hook there, but there is so much artistic forgery that you can take. And, inevitably, each time that I stop trying to get into another one of her albums (and the bastards keep coming), I just end up playing something else instead. And God it sounds wonderful:
P.S. Honest question: how big a chance is there that The Replacements will be name-dropped on Lana's new album?..
