Authenticity and Anti-Feminism: A Postfeminist Discussion on The Identity of Lana Del Rey’s Mid-Century America Persona.

This essay will critically examine the identity of influential pop artist Lana Del Rey through a postfeminist lens, detailing the complexity of her lyrics and past controversies which have led critics to label Del Rey’s music ‘anti-feminist’ and claims that she ‘glamorises abuse’ (Snapes, L. 2020). Feminist cultural theorist, Rosalind Gill defines ‘Postfeminism’ as “best understood as a distinctive sensibility, made up of a number of interrelated themes, [including] the notion that femininity is a bodily property; the shift from objectification to subjectification; an emphasis upon self-surveillance, monitoring and self-discipline; a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a makeover paradigm; and a resurgence of ideas about natural sexual difference” (Gill, 2007). Lana Del Rey is a significant figure in pop culture and since her illustrious career began in 2011, she has faced many criticisms due to issues of her glamorising abuse, accusations of inauthenticity, romanticising female submission and unhealthy relationship dynamics. Del Rey’s controversies led her to respond in May 2020 when she claimed, “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’s ‘minor lyrical exploration’ of these contentious themes opens a debate of whether she can be considered a figure in promoting postfeminism or if the identity of her nostalgic persona carries regressive ideas that “set women back hundreds of years”.

Lana Del Rey; The Persona

Lana Del Rey, born Elizabeth Wooldridge Grant, rose to international attention with her second studio album ‘Born to Die’ which peaked at number 1 on the official album charts in 2012 (Official Chart, 2023). Throughout Del Rey’s 9 studio albums, her music leans heavily on melancholia which is elaborated through her lyrical depictions of tragic love and toxic relationships where she is willingly dominated by her partners. Del Rey’s music is characterised by this nostalgic and cinematic sound which has been influenced by her musical inspirations such as Frank Sinatra, Lou Reed, and Bobby Vinton (Rolling Stone, 2014). This nostalgic and

cinematic style also translates fluently to her image, inspired by old Hollywood glamour icons like Nancy Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, she credits Monroe in ‘Body Electric’ from the 2012 album ‘Born to Die: Paradise Edition’ where she refers to Monroe as her ‘mother’. Del Rey’s creative choice of mid-century America inspiration feeds profoundly into her persona and arguably the outdated ideas in her music which reflect that of the 1950s. “Someone's ‘persona’ is the aspect of their character or nature that they present to other people, perhaps

in contrast to their real character or nature” (Collins Dictionary). Del Rey’s ‘persona’ as an artist is created upon literary, musical, and cultural influences from 20th mid-century America which has created her iconic vision of an old-Hollywood sad-core version of the world of bad boys and damaged girls. Del Rey posted on Twitter “Never had a persona. Never needed one. Never will” in response to Ann Power’s review of her 2019 album Norman F***ing Rockwell where Powers questions Del Rey’s authenticity. Respected music critic Powers wrote, “This is not only about Del Rey's persona as a bad girl to whom bad things are done; her supposed confessions would be nothing than reality-show fodder if not for the way she and her collaborators construct them” (Powers, 2019). Del Rey’s ‘supposed confessions’, or lyrics, of her life are consistently from her mid-century American gaze which is unquestionably an embellishment of real life. Del Rey’s influences from mid-century America may feed into the regressive messages she perpetuates through her music.

“It's all for you, everything I do.”

In 2011 Elizabeth Grant officially debuted under ‘Lana Del Rey’, with the self-released hit ‘Video Games’. “The contrast between the reality of a relationship and a wistful longing for old- fashioned love remains the perfect introduction to Lana Del Rey’s work” (Hall, 2016), this “longing for old-fashioned love” is what has caused her vision to come under debate with feminism. In ‘Postfeminist Media Culture: Elements of a Sensibility’, Rosalind Gill outlines that there is little agreement on what postfeminism is and can be viewed by individuals to be a ‘regressive political stance’ (Gill, 2007). The various perceptions on postfeminism resonate with the discussion on Lana Del Rey being considered a postfeminist or an anti-feminist. Del Rey’s desire for an old fashion love is a theme throughout her lyrics where she willingly submits herself to her partner. “Submissiveness, nostalgia and a tendency to indulge in self-destructive behaviour are the hallmarks of Del Rey’s persona” (Vigier, 2012), the recurring submissiveness undermines the idea of female empowerment that second and third-wave feminism fought for.

Gill states that “the resurgence of ideas about sexual difference” serves to “(re) eroticize power relations between men and women” (Gill 2007) by constructing difference as sexy, and this discourse of natural sexual difference can serve to perpetuate gender inequalities (Davis, R. 2017, p.6) “by representing them as inevitable and—if read correctly—as pleasurable” (Gill, 2007) From Gill’s postfeminist perspective, sexual difference as ‘pleasurable’ is what Del Rey is choosing to propagate through her lyrics and art. She reinforces this motif of sexual surrender with imagery of her in a vulnerable position to a man that is dominating her. The cover art for ‘Blue Jeans’ shows her being choked by a tattooed hand and also in a photo shoot for GQ where Lana Del Rey was named ‘Woman of the Year’, she posed sitting down with her dress pulled down and a man behind her in a suit with one hand clutching her exposed breast and the other around her neck. The power dynamic is obvious in both of these examples with the man being in a position of control and Del Rey being made vulnerable, yet her expression appears lustful which communicates that it is erotic for her; this dynamic of ‘sexual difference’ (Gill, 2007).

Question for the Culture

“Postfeminism converts women from sexual objects to desiring subjects who choose to present themselves in an objectified manner” (Allan, P. ND). This can be applied to Del Rey’s decision to objectify herself and demean herself to a submissive role in her relationships because she is choosing to, and in turn, is expressing her sexuality. “Individualism, choice and empowerment” (Gill, 2007) are essential to postfeminist goals. Del Rey’s individualism, choice and empowerment are discussed in her public response to criticisms she received about these themes of submissiveness and glamorising abuse throughout her music.

“Question for the Culture” (‘QFTC’) is the title of the message posted on Instagram in May 2020 to respond to critics that claim she glamourises abuse.

Del Rey opens her rant by naming seven successful women in the music industry, six of whom are women of colour: Doja Cat, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce. The example of naming six women of colour comes across as extremely ignorant from the position of a white privileged woman, she continues to describe their music in a reductive manner by listing their music subject matter as “songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, fucking, cheating etc”. She refers to her own music as “singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful...” essentially praising her music whilst describing the other artist’s music in a diminishing light. It

is crucial that as a white, privileged woman she should understand that “while women are a generally marginalized group, Black women face misogynoir, a type of misogyny that is unique to them because they face a different and more severe type of marginalization due to their Blackness” (Heller N.E, 2020. p7). Throughout ‘QFTC’ Del Rey has failed to recognise the difference in experience that Black women face and should acknowledge that hip-hop, rap, and R&B (the mentioned artist's music genres) is an outlet for intersectional musicians to reclaim sexual power (Heller N.E, 2020. p7). Del Rey firstly names five black women and then goes on to reduce their music to derogatory tropes that are regressive to feminism and racially insensitive. Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term ‘intersectional feminism’ and stated that Black women are doubly oppressed because of both gender and race (Crenshaw, 1989), which Del Rey has slighted. This is not the first time that Del Rey has been criticised for a lack of cultural awareness as she portrayed herself as a working-class Latina sex worker in the 2013 short film ‘Tropico”. It is as if Grant’s ‘Lana Del Rey’ persona can appropriate Latinx culture and adapt to different identities outside of her own in the name of art. Del Rey's insensitivity in ‘QFTC, is not ambiguous, unlike her controversial lyrics which can be excused down to artistic license.

Del Rey protests “I'm not not a feminist –but there has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me” claiming that feminism is intolerant to women (Wallace D. 2020) who are “their authentic delicate selves”. Believing that feminism is intolerant to white privileged women is uninformed to the complex relationship between African American women and feminism. Second-wave feminism was predominantly led by middle-class white women who built the movement primarily around their own concerns; which defined gender as the principal issue while Black women were forced to confront the interplay between both racism and sexism (Burkett. n.d). When Del Rey writes “There must be a place in feminism where women who look and act like me –slated mercilessly for being their authentic delicate selves” it is because she considered herself as a weaker kind of woman that she believes feminism is intolerant towards. ‘Postfeminism sensibility’ is made of many ‘interrelated themes’ which include the notion of “acceptance of the weaker and delicate type of woman as a feminist” (Wolk, M. 2021) that Del Rey calls for.

The notion of Del Rey’s self-destructive persona allowing men to take advantage of her ‘delicate self’ is most explicitly explored in the 2014 track ‘Ultraviolence’.

“He hit me, and it felt like a kiss”.

Del Rey’s 2014 album and its titular song Ultraviolence reference Anthony Burgess’ 1962 dystopian satire novel, A Clockwork Orange (Khan, J. 2022). The protagonist in the novel, Alex, is into “ultra-violence” which is “acts of extreme violence, esp. those shown on television or film” (Collins Dictionary), this ‘ultra-violence’ that Alex is into is primarily rape and sadism (Bedore, 2021). The title ‘Ultraviolence’ for both the track and its album is an artistic yet controversial choice Del Rey has made, considering its graphic meaning, it is notable to place it in the context of the song’s lyrics: “He hit me, and it felt like a kiss” as it draws a parallel to the subject of domestic and sexual violence. The lyric is derivative of The Crystal's song ‘He hit me (it felt like a kiss)’ which was written by Carol King and Gerry Goffin in 1962 about a true story where their babysitter “Little Eva” Boyd was being beaten by her jealous boyfriend, and she believed it was because he really loved her. (Genius, n.d). There are undeniable influences of toxic love that Del Rey lyrically. In ‘QFTC’ Del Rey writes “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”. She recognises the submissive role she is representing to women and acknowledges it being regressive which aligns with Gill’s statement on postfeminism, that it is highly disputed; viewed by some to be a “regressive political stance” (Gill, 2007). Del Rey’s choice to be submissive has been publicised through her music and therefore publicly criticized, it begs the question of whether women are allowed to be submissive in the sphere of feminism. Whilst the ‘passive’ or ‘submissive’ female is a trope that feminists wanted to reject in second- wave feminism postfeminism allows for there to be new kinds of feminist ideologies that are accepted; including a woman who desires to be dominated by a man.

“A true feminist is a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants”.

Traditional female and femininity tropes encompass traits such as beauty, grace, and elegance, unfortunately, this also comes with traits like demureness and timidness which has also led women to be expected to be weak-willed and fragile (TV Tropes, n.d). Lana Del Rey encompasses beauty and grace which is a motif throughout lyrics like “done my hair up real big beauty queen style”, and “blessed with beauty and grace”, which shows that the femininity trope

of beauty is empowering to her rather than seeing it as a stereotype. She leans on old Hollywood glamour and her own weakness which makes up her nostalgic persona, similar to the prominent influence of mid-century America throughout her music which is what ultimately has led to critics deeming her both anti-feminist and inauthentic. Del Rey’s aesthetic is fundamental to her identity as an artist. Her image on stage and appearance in music videos are a stark contrast to when she is photographed in public; usually wearing very understated, casual clothing and with little makeup compared to the hyper-feminine image she portrays in her art, which is another call to suggest that the ‘persona’ Del Rey rejects insistently, does in fact exist. What contributed to the ‘anti-feminist’ label was an interview for her fourth album Ultraviolence, where she was asked about the way she portrays women in relationships and says that she finds feminism uninteresting but later says “A true feminist is a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants” (Stubbs, D 2014). Postfeminist notions of choice, agency and empowerment are central to the movement, so Del Rey’s belief in being free enough to do what she wants can be interconnected with Gill’s perspective of ‘postfeminist sensibility’.

Despite music’s long history of reinvention and self-mythologising (Perry, K. 2015), Del Rey has rejected the claims of her having a ‘persona’ to give the impression of authenticity. The mid- century American gaze on her life as depicted through her lyrics, often embody a nostalgic aesthetic which also comes with a (debatably) negatively nostalgic notion, specifically that of a submissive role in her relationships and her choice of eroticising sexual difference (Gill, 2007). Conversely, the discourse of postfeminism allows for there to be ‘acceptance of the weaker and delicate type of woman as a feminist’ (Wolk, M. 2021) so society should accept Del Rey’s submissive role rather than regard it as a ‘regressive political stance’. However, the romanticisation of toxic, abusive love explored in Ultraviolence is less of a feminist issue and more of a moral concern, as it should not be the message that is perpetuated to young women. Another major controversy Del Rey generated was the tactless ‘QFTC’ which was in fact less of a question and more of an assault on intersectional feminism which presented her as highly uninformed. Del Rey’s dismissal of feminism is also uninformed as she fails to recognise the all- encompassing précis of postfeminism, which she has unknowingly encountered throughout her personal ideologies of calling for inclusive feminism and the freedom of sexual expression, empowerment, and agency.

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