Lana Del Rey facing backlash for calling out Beyoncé, comments on double standards in music

Lana Del Rey announced she was releasing a new album this fall, but it’s not her music that’s getting critics riled up — it’s her comments about the double standards in music.

In sharing the news of her upcoming album to Instagram Thursday, the “Summertime Sadness” artist called out critics who accused her of “glamorizing abuse” in her songs and name dropped a few singers. She started her statement by posing a “question for the culture.”

“Now that Doja Cat, Ariana (Grande), Camila (Cabello), Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, (expletive), 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 glamorizing abuse?” the 34-year-old artist asked.

She continued, saying she’s “fed up with female writers and alt singers” who’ve criticized her for glamorizing abuse when she’s just singing about the realities of her experiences.

“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 wrote.

The “Young and Beautiful” singer said while she’s not against feminism, she does believe there should be a space for women like her, “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 noted she’s been putting up with 10 years of “(expletive) reviews” where she would be called “hysterical” if she wrote sad songs during her first two records. She says her experience has “paved the way for other women to stop ‘putting on a happy face’ and just be able to say whatever the hell they wanted to in their music.”

People on social media criticized Del Rey for her comments, and some noted that she mainly called out women of color while trying to make her point.

“Lana blatantly ignoring the criticism Beyoncé, Nicki, and other black women have received (and continue to) for being confident in their sexuality doesn’t sit right with me. Commercial success hasn’t made them exempt from misogynistic attacks masked as constructive criticism,” tweeted @BOYCOTTCAMILLE.

A few called out her white privilege.

“Lana Del Rey really threw a bunch of black women under the bus before saying that feminism needs to accommodate women like her. It’s art,” tweeted @_Zeets.

“Every single one of the women, especially the Black ones, that Lana Del Rey named in her sad little woe-is-me white girl meldown have caught IMMENSE (expletive) for their music, lyrics and personal life, how they talk about themselves and the men in their lives,” tweeted @brujacontumbao.

Others agreed with the double standards that Del Rey was calling out, but didn’t like the way she posed her statement.

“Call out the actual people hurting you, honey! Leave WOC artists out of it. They’re not the ones bringing you down. Your sour grapes are the vibe killer here,” wrote Kat Bee on Twitter. “Yes, conversations about misogynistic double standards ARE important. But don’t make yourself a martyr for the cause by bringing down other women to make a point. Feminism is already for delicate cisgender white women, Lana. You’ve had a place at the table for a long time.”

Some said she could’ve proven her point better.

“Lana didn’t drag anyone but tbh she could’ve proved her point in a better way, all the women that she named have been through backlashes because of their works. she’s not the only one going through it. women in music industry really deserve better,” tweeted @repromantics.

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