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Lana Del Rey: In Praise of a Difficult Woman
One writer’s attempt to explain Lana Del Rey’s “question for the culture”
Lana Del Rey is the kind of pop star (and feminist) Liz Phair said she hoped to inspire. Del Rey would define her feminism as “a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants,” i.e., Liz Phair-style feminism. It is precisely this definition of feminism that has made Del Rey such a “bad feminist” to feminist music critics like Ann Powers at NPR. However, the division that exists between Del Rey and her critics isn’t driven by gender politics alone but by a philosophical struggle between Del Rey and critics who view Del Rey’s work as “problematic,” “disempowering,” and “uncooked.” For them, the lack of didacticism in Del Rey’s oeuvre is what makes her unsophisticated. On the other hand, Del Rey’s fans (disinterested in the feminist implications of her work) rolled their eyes when Ann Powers critiqued Del Rey as “uncooked” while claiming she herself was…a fan (a claim Del Rey and her fans would reject).
But first, a rhetorical question for the culture: Why does this shit matter? It matters because Del Rey’s decade-long resistance to merging her art with neoliberal politics has reshaped the landscape of popular culture, feminism, and music criticism (and radicalized her in the process).
