Lana Del Rey has been teasing a spoken word record for the last few months, but apparently she has even more up her sleeve. In an Instagram post early Thursday, she announced she will release a new album on September 5th, the follow-up to last year’s stellar Norman Fucking Rockwell!. Del Rey also appeared to shade major pop stars of color like Beyoncé and Cardi B in a lengthy discussion about the glamorization of abuse and feminism’s place in pop music.
Del Rey’s social media post was predominantly focused on rejecting the criticisms that her music glamorizes abuse. “I’m fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize 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,” she wrote.
The California native drew a contrast between her music (“about the realities” of relationships) and that of folks like Bey, Cardi, and others: “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, fucking, 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???????”
“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,” added Del Rey.
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She then insisted that modern feminism allows for her point of view, too. “Let this be clear, I’m not 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 women who are 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 clearly has a lot to say on the subject, and it appears more of these contemplations will partially inform her new, as-yet-untitled album. In a very brief sentence toward the end of her long-windedness post, she wrote, “And I’m sure there will be tinges of what I’ve been pondering in my new album that comes out September 5th.” (You could say she buried the lede, but it’s not hard to see why in this case.)
Additionally, she’ll continue to explore this topic in two forthcoming books. “… I’ll be detailing some of my feelings in my next two books of poetry (mostly the second one) with Simon and Schuster,” she said.
Read the full Instagram post below.
Question for the culture:
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, fucking, 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???????
I’m fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize 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.
Let this be clear, I’m not 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 women who are 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.
I’ve been honest and optimistic about the challenging relationships I’ve had.
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 bullshit 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
Anyways none of this has anything to do about much but I’ll be detailing some of my feelings in my next two books of poetry (mostly the second one) with Simon and Schuster. Yes I’m still making personal reparations with the proceeds of the book to my choice of Native American foundations which I’m very happy about. 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
