Lana Del Rey has confirmed her new album will be released later this year. The singer, 34, announced the follow-up to 2019's Norman F**king Rockwell! via a lengthy Instagram post where she lashed out at "female writers and alt singers" who have criticized her music.
The "Video Games" singer name-checked a number of prominent female artists including Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Ariana Grande in her statement, comparing the subject matter of their music to her own.
She wrote: "Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, f**king, 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 that I'm glamorising abuse???????"
Since the release of her debut album, Born to Die in 2012, Del Rey's critics have often dwelled on what is perceived as her regressive lyrics about sex and relationships.
Pitchfork's review of her first album painted the singer as an "Ice-cream-cone-licking object of male desire." Singer Lorde told Fader in 2013, "I listened to that Lana Del Rey record and the whole time I was just thinking it's so unhealthy for young girls to be listening to, you know: 'I'm nothing without you.' This sort of shirt-tugging, desperate, don't leave me stuff."
Del Rey continued: "I'm fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorise abuse when in reality I'm just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent 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 ten 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."
Del Rey explained she feels she has "been honest and optimistic about the challenging relationships."
"News flash! That's just how it is for many women. And that was sadly my experience up until the point that those records were made.
"So I just want to say it's been a long 10 years of bulls**t reviews up until recently and I've learned a lot from them, but also I 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 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."
The singer, whose real name is Elizabeth Grant, concluded her post by revealing that her new project, which was rumored to be in the works for some time, will drop on September 5. The currently untitled work will be her seventh studio album.
Del Rey added that she will be detailing some of her feelings about how her image has been perceived in her upcoming book of poetry, called Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass and that the proceeds will be donated to Native American foundations.
The performer concluded her lengthy message with: "Happy quarantining."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
